Meet Sr. Joan Paule

Although she studied at Franciscan University a couple decades ago, Sr. Joan Paule Portenlanger has never been to Gaming before now. She is not totally a stranger to Europe, though, having taught a year in Switzerland a decade ago. She has a fondness for Europe because

1) it is on this continent (Rome, to be exact) that she received her vocational call and

2) it is in Europe that she experienced the true universality of the Catholic Church for the first time.

She is excited for the students who are coming here and to be a part of their discovery of a deeper richness of the Church. She hopes that they all, like herself, fall more in love with their Faith because of the trips they’ll be taking which complement their curriculum so perfectly. A sense of the Beauty and the transcendence of God is so tangible here, primarily in the sacred art and architecture that abounds in spades. In her teaching days, Sr. Joan Paule considered herself to be a "field trip queen" and took her classes on any field trips she could which complemented the literature she was teaching.

Having the opportunity to accompany the students around Europe fits well with what comes naturally to her: hands-on experiences, sights and sounds, which supplement book learning and greatly enhance the learning experience, making the knowledge much more memorable.

Sr. Joan Paule entered the Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R., of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother 10 years ago this month. She taught herself guitar a few years after entering the community and has really enjoyed liturgical music ministry and leading praise and worship in her religious community. She is joining the staff at Franciscan University as the coordinator of music ministry on the Gaming campus. In addition, she will be coordinating the Eucharistic adoration hours in the chapel. She will be taking German along with the students and looking forward to not feeling so illiterate here in Austria.

She looks forward to getting to know the students who are coming to study and travel here, and asks for prayers for her memory as she attempts to learn 180 new names and faces – each semester.