Meet Sr. Armida Sison, SFP

Q. Could you share with us a little bit of your family and early life?
A. I am the second to the youngest in a family of seven – two boys and five girls. I was born in a rural town in the province of Pangasinan in the Philippines. I went to a public elementary school and studied in a parochial school for my high school education. I graduated with my bachelor's degree from a university in Manila and worked in the civil service for almost sixteen years prior to my coming to the United States in 1992. My mother died in 2003, but my father is still alive, 91 years old and totally blind. Except for my eldest sister, all my siblings are married with children. I have five nephews and four nieces; two grandnephews and one grandniece.

Q. Why did you choose religious life? Why the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor?
A. I may have had the call early on in my life but I did not heed the call because I was needed by my family. I joined the Legion of Mary when I was in the elementary grades up to high school and for almost ten years I was actively involved in the charismatic renewal in my parish. I also joined a group of women who were discerning religious life back then. I finally decided to enter religious life when I came to the US and was about to finish my master's degree. I knew that something was missing in my life and I had a deep longing to serve God, especially the poor. During that time, I had been doing volunteer work at St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken, New Jersey, one of the hospitals owned by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. I met Sr. Felicitas Lichtenhauer who was a source of great inspiration to me, and who prayed for me. God must have listened to her fervent prayers!

Q. What is the highlight of your life as a religious?
A. There are many … I have come to know the tremendous love God has for everyone. As a religious sister, I have met many people of various colors, backgrounds, and religious beliefs. I have worked with the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the educated and the simple. This would not have been possible in any other lifestyle. …I have met people of various backgrounds…young, old, rich and poor, educated and simple –in a way not possible had I not been in religious life…

Q. What are you doing now?
A. I have just finished my third year of teaching in a Catholic school in Brooklyn, NY. I just left for my mission trip to the Philippines at the end of July. There are myriad of things to do…

Q. What would you say to a young woman considering religious life today?
A. I have only one word of advice – get to know the sisters! Do not get attracted by glossy vocation brochures because these do not say much of what a religious life is. Spend some time to see how the sisters live, where they live, what they do, what makes them laugh and cry, and most of all, how they relate to God and the Church.

Note: Sr. Armida is currently ministering to the street children and needy in the Philippines.