By Angela Marshall
Sister M. Leo Francis Monaghan's demeanor more closely resembles the fun-loving flying nun that Sally Field portrayed on 1960s television to the strict knuckle-slapping nuns that graduates of Catholic school often describe. Perhaps if Sister Leo had been exposed to the latter she never would have joined the convent. Instead, her elementary school teachers inspired her. I loved them, she said. They were so kind and good to the poor.
Sister Leo wanted to be like them and confessed with a twinkle in her eye, I lied a little bit. She wanted to sit next to the sisters so badly that sometimes she would say she forgot her rosary so that one of them would share with her.
After reading a book about the Sisters of St. Dominick and their work with the poor, she decided that that was what she wanted to do and entered the novitiate when she was 18. When she was put into classes, Sister Leo questioned why she needed an education to sew buttons on little boys' underwear. Laughing at her own naivet, she recalled that she had never intended to be a teacher when she became a sister but that back in those days nuns had no choice of assignment.
After such an awkward beginning to her education, Sister Leo embraced it and eventually earned a master's degree, paid for through grants.
This year she is celebrating her 35th year teaching biology at Molloy College and her 59th year as a nun. In honor of the occasion, a scholarship is being started in her name and a luncheon will be held in her honor on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m.
Sitting in the conference room of the Maria Regina Hall on Molloy's campus, Sister Leo is a colorful, vibrant, sometimes chaotic symphony. When she moved there 35 years ago, there were 44 nuns; now there are 16.
Although she may remind some of the flying nun, her students call her the dancing nun. Sister Leo loves to Lindy and do the Electric Slide, which, she said, has caused more than one of her fellow nuns to say, holy cow. She has been moderator of Molloy's glee club for the last 20 years.
Many people think nuns are kneeling all day forget it, she said, recalling all the manual labor she's done over the years. As for teaching, Sister Leo said she could write a book about all her experiences, then she laughed and said, Of course, I'd probably get thrown out of the convent.
Sister Leo has a story for everything, some funny, some sad. Four days before Sister Leo was to enter the novitiate on Sept. 8, 1944, the doorbell rang and she saw the words We regret to inform you... on the outside of the envelope being delivered. Her brother, Leo, was missing in action. When it came time for her to take a new name, she took his and has kept it to keep his memory alive even though many other nuns now go by their family given names. Leo's body was eventually found and brought home.
She also continues to wear the habit, veil and wimple when not teaching biology labs or vacationing long after others have changed to slacks and sweaters. The habit does not make the nun any better, she said, but continues to wear it because of the message the traditional garb sends to others. It reminds people, she said, that there is someone who is trying to do her best.
The sister has adapted to some modern conveniences although not always willingly. She likes to joke that if she gets to the pearly gates and St. Peter says something like, Oh, good, your computer's already set up, she would say Send me back to Purgatory.
But she doesn't mind the e-mails she gets from former students, recalling how she comforted them at one time or another or how she taught them a life lesson they are now passing on to their children. When she taught elementary school before joining Molloy, Sister Leo made a point of telling her students to make sure they always show their parents that they love them because someday they might not be able to. Just recently she got an e-mail from one of her students thanking her for doing that.
One of the most disturbing changes Sister Leo has seen over the years is the need for students to work full time while going to school full time. This trend is the impetus for the creation of the scholarship. She wants students to be able to give themselves fully to studying and not to have to worry about paying bills at the same time.
She said she is thankful to all those who have helped plan the scholarship luncheon.
With all the ups and downs, God has been very good to me, she said. I love my life.
