I had 33 wonderful years teaching junior high and high school English and theology and doing retreat work with my students as well. I then experienced joyous years doing adult formation and walking with people on their faith journey in several Catholic parishes. During those years I also enjoyed doing free-lance speaking on spiritual topics at Alverno College, Mt. Mary University, and Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. An interesting addition was doing some parenting classes, because so often parents of students were at a loss in terms of how to deal with their teenagers. This included sessions for parents whose children were taken away because of drug addiction. I also taught at Milwaukee Spectrum, which was a school for high school dropouts. It was there that I encountered some remarkable young women who were survivors.
I am presently on the advisory board of the Sisters Program South, which is a drop-in center that opened in January of 2017. This is a collaborative made up of religious communities, church groups and agencies that are working to help women in prostitution or sex trafficking create safer, healthier lives while also reducing crime and lessening the revolving door of arrest and incarceration.
I also attend the monthly meetings of the Human Trafficking Task Force of Greater Milwaukee. It is the community response to eradicating human trafficking through coordinated services, education and awareness, and informed policy change.