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Contact Information:    Phone: (509) 327-4479    Fax: (509) 327-5171    E-mail: srpat@calledbyjoy.com		Franciscan Monstery of Saint Clare 4419 North Hawthorne Street Spokane, WA 99205

Short Bio
Radio talk show host, best selling author, entrepeneur and cloistered nun - all this from inside a monastery? Only in the 21st century. This is Sister Patricia Proctor, a Poor Clare sister who lives with her five other sisters, her parrot named Pi, four Koi (big goldfish) and a dog named Angie and a cat named Jeremiah in a quiet monastery in the middle of a quiet city, Spokane, Washington .

Sister was born in Texas but raised in the Northwest for most of her life. After spending four years in the Navy, and a bit of college she entered religious life. Entering the so called "hidden life" she has now come very much into the public and is a vibrant witness of authentic Catholic living at its best. Is she unusual or is there more to contemplative life than we know?

Long Bio
I have always been one of those innocent people that always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I started off my naval career, right after boot camp by going AWOL.  I didn’t do it on purpose – but they gave me two sets of orders that said to go to two different places. I picked the wrong one to go to… and I missed my flight to Iceland . I spent two weeks in Norfolk ,Virginia , polishing floors and cleaning latrines while they waited to get me on a plane to go to my next assignment. When I arrived at my next assignment they said I had been AWOL for two weeks. I said if I was going to go AWOL I could have found other things to do besides polish floors and clean latrines. They said they understood and I could explain that to the executive officer at my XO Mass.  That’s like one step before you see the captain and go to the brig. It was not a good way to start a distinguished naval career and I am afraid it didn’t get any better. Needless to say after four years I decided to try something else.

Then my life took a nose dive. I was going to college with plans to go into Journalism. In one of my classes we were asked to rate 10 different qualities of life as to their importance. I remember thinking “health” was a stupid one and put that down at the bottom of the list. A week later my brother Mike died from a seizure. All of a sudden that “health” issue went right up to the top three!

After my brothers death I went from being a bona fide atheist to being a 100 percent Christian. Life after death was what mattered now – this life was only a ticket to getting there. I have always been a 100 per center in what I go after. No middle of the road, undecided, uncommitted for me. I either “don’t believe in God,” and everyone knows it, or “I believed,” and get out of my way if you don’t want to be preached at.

I had visions of becoming a Woman Evangelist and hitting the road. But after some reading and prayer I perceived God was calling me to a different life, to be a nun!

I didn’t feel it was a permanent calling, just something God wanted me to experience before moving on to new and better things. I explained to God that I would be happy to go if He thought it was a good idea. I was sure He meant me only to try it for six months. I figured it wouldn’t be long before the Sisters would show me the door and I would be out with no regrets.

I don’t want to say God duped me, but I do think his recruitment tactics far outdid anything I ever experienced from my naval recruiter!  The six months have melted into 23 years and so far the sisters are undecided about opening that door for me to leave. I have definitely given them some cause for serious consideration I expect!

In the meantime, I actually have come to like the place and the occupation. I’ve done hundreds of things I would probably never have done had I not entered. Things like learning to play the organ, (“but Sister, I hate the organ” “never mind it will be good for you”) and starting up my own internet ministry , my own radio program and self published two books so far, one on the rosary and one on the eucharist . Many people may think that living a contemplative life in a monastery would be very quiet, dull and let’s face it boring, but “being bored” is my number one least favorite thing in life and it seems to be something the other Sisters are not fond of either because it rarely seems to happen.

My number one “living” hero is Pope John Paul. He is the holiest person I know, very loving, has a great sense of humor and is always starting something new no matter how difficult or impossible it might seem to attain. I think the closer one draws to God the more exciting ones life becomes because like my favorite line in an old christian praise song I sing often says, “When you’re walking with the Lord, you don’t get bored!”

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Publication date - September 23, 2004
the feast of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina