From New York to Youngstown – Sister Betty Schuster’s Vocation Story Sister Betty Schuster, Assistant Director of Beatitude House in Youngstown, a ministry of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, shares her vocation story, reflecting on her life as an Ursuline Sister. Called from New York to Youngstown I’d had friends who said to me, “You know, you should consider religious life.” And I thought they were crazy. Then I came out to Youngstown to volunteer at Beatitude House, and it was a discernment period for me. That was not my purpose at all in coming out here. I planned to go back to New York and my happy little life on Long Island. And so here I am today, 19 years later, an Ursuline Sister of Youngstown, Ohio. And I feel I am fulfilled. I think that’s what really was the pointer to me that I should enter the community. That there was a fulfillment in my life that I didn’t even know was missing. How Sister Betty’s Ministry Is Fulfilling The women and children, and I must say my heart is mostly with the children whose lives we touch at Beatitude House, whose lives change for the better after their mothers enroll in a program at Beatitude House, that really keeps me going. The Power of Prayer in Times of Trouble I am living with cancer and have been fighting it for 4 ½, almost 5 years. The Ursuline Sisters have supported me through prayer, both communal prayer, individual prayer. There’s one of our older sisters, when I go out to the Motherhouse, she says, “I’m praying for you. I pray for you by name every day.” Knowing that gives you the will to go on. Religious Life Brings Hope Religious life, to me, brings about hope. Hope that we can impact change in the church, and hope and knowledge that we can impact the world today. I’m Sister Betty Schuster. Beatitude House, a ministry of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, serves women and children of Ashtabula, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties bound in the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Through its programs, services, counseling, education, love and support, Beatitude House helps them break that cycle. To learn more, visit Beatitude House