You Go Girl!: Life and Adventures of a Former Nun

By Dacia Van Antwerp

This book is about my life after I left my religious order and what I then did to support myself.. Going from life in an order with Papal Enclosure to the modern World was a horrendous ordeal. Living under Papal Enclosure meant leaving the Cloister only for educational purposes or other special occasions. such as hospital stays, etc. For instance when my Father died I was not allowed to go home or even participate in his funeral.



I went from Masters student to PhD student to actively looking for a job as a PhD. Having obtained a position with a major corporation it meant getting to know how to dress appropriately, mingle with ordinary people, discuss football, baseball and other topics which had been quite foreign to me.



Then began the process of dating, being engaged, marrying and living a married life. Then widowhood, falling in love again, marrying again. In the process of working, then retiring and then obtaining another position, then moving to the North where I ran for election and won and with another person began the Small Business Development Center for NE Michigan. Then came Teaching college level classes and then widowhood a second time and moving back to the Detroit area.



After that came more schooling (I became a Spiritual Director). Then Alaska where I worked after which I returned to the Lower 48 where I went back to school for a M Div. Then I received a unit of PET at Beaumont Hospital where I was an intern in Hospital Chaplaincy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491872970

Dacia Van Antwerp

Dr. Dacia Van Antwerp, the tenth of eleven children born to Eugene Ignatius and Mary Frances (nee McDevitt) Van Antwerp was born 08/22/1930 in Detroit, MI. Having left religious life in 1969 she has since been married and widowed twice (her husbands were Reginald J. McLaren and Robert W. Denton) she presently is the Step Mother of 7 living children and two who have gone to God, Grandmother of 18, and Great Grandmother of 24. Kevin McLaren died in 2000 in a house fire and Bob Denton, Jr. died in 2010 under the care of Hospice. Educated by the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Elementary and Secondary School, she then went to Manhattanville College where she majored in both Social Studies and Education. Then she became a Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). As a religious she taught in the schools and worked in the Business Offices, of the various convents where she was stationed: Albany, NY; Rochester, NY; New York City; and Greenwich, CT; except for the six months she was in Rome, Italy studying. She left after 17 years, went back to school and received an MS from SUNYA at Albany in Educational Communications and her permanent teaching certification from the State of New York. Then from Michigan State University she received a PhD in Instructional Development & Technology. In conjunction with GE at the State University of NY at Albany she ran a computer classroom and as an Assistant at MSU she helped the Faculty improve their instruction. Upon completing her PhD she applied to the Detroit Public Schools but they would not even let her fill out an application. Needing to support herself, she then wrote to the heads of GM, Ford and Chrysler telling them her philosophy of education and pointing out what she could do for them. Chrysler called and asked to interview her. She was then hired by the Chrysler Institute to design a school for them. (MoTech) After that she became responsible for the Upward Mobility of Women at Chrysler Corporation. Thus began 13 years with Chrysler Corporation from which she retired in 1985. Then Brother Francis Boylan, csc, of Boysville - Holy Cross Services on whose Board she sat, asked her to leave the Board and work for Boysville. This she did and ended up as Director of Human Resources at Holy Cross Children’s Services. Her second husband then decided that he wanted to return to his childhood home in Alpena, MI and so they did. In Alpena Dacia was first appointed and then elected to the Alpena County School Board. With Bob Munroe she began the SBDC in Alpena, MI and helped people begin businesses. She restarted the RCIA Program at St. Bernard Parish, Alpena, MI under Fr. Joe Graff and was the Business Manager of the Parishes of St. Bernard and St. Anne & their schools. An Evaluator for the US Department of State, USAID she worked at the International Institute in Hawaii, and the Schools of the Country of Benin, West Africa. She also served as a proposal evaluator for the National Science Foundation. One of the things for which she is most proud is that she was an Initiator and Facilitator of Intergovernmental meetings between the City, County and Township of Alpena. She has been an Adjunct Professor at U of D-Mercy, McNichols campus and Spring Arbor College’s Alpena, MI branch. Upon the death of her second husband in 2002 her children thought it best that she return to the Detroit area which she did. Doing so allowed her to continue her training to be a Spiritual Director with the Jesuits for 2 ½ years (She’d begun in Gaylord with the Grand Rapids Dominicans). Then she became the Executive Director of the Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage, AK. (Owned by the Archdiocese and at that time managed by the Jesuits.) She reported to both the Board, the Archbishop and the Jesuit Provincial. Upon her return from Alaska she began studies for her MDiv which was granted in 2008 from the Catholic Theological Union. Then the Bishop of Saginaw, Robert Carlson, (now Archbishop of St. Louis), asked her to take over a priestless parish in Merrill, MI, until a priest could be found. A priest was found and took over the parish on July 1st, 2009. Later that year she began training as a Hospital Chaplain at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. She left in March 2010, having earned one unit of CPE. April and May of that year she made her retreat in Joigny, France and walked the Camino, a pilgrimage to Santiago Compostela in Spain. Once home, she was in charge of the Justice Initiative of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for a short time. Then she was the Chaplain for St. Vincent’s Home, an institution of Holy Cross Children’s Services in Saginaw, MI.

Book preview

© 2014 Dacia Van Antwerp. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/12/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7298-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7297-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904930

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

About The Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1 July 21, 1969

Chapter 2 Education

Chapter 3 First Real Job

Chapter 4 Marriage

Chapter 5 Made An Executive!

Chapter 6 My Husband’s Death

Chapter 7 2nd Marriage

Chapter 8 Children

Chapter 9 A Son’s Death

Chapter 10 Alpena

Chapter 11 Second Husband’s Death

Chapter 12 Move To Detroit Area

Chapter 13 Benin

Chapter 14 Alaska

Chapter 15 Catholic Theological Union

Chapter 16 Pastoral Administrator

Chapter 17 Hospital Chaplain In Training

Chapter 18 Society Of St. Vincent De Paul

Chapter 19 Second Son’s Death

Chapter 20 What’s Next?

About the Author

41937.png001_a_reigun.jpeg

Dr. Dacia Van Antwerp, the tenth of eleven children born to Eugene Ignatius and Mary Frances (nee McDevitt) Van Antwerp was born 08/22/1930 in Detroit, MI. Having been married and widowed twice (her husbands were Reginald J. McLaren and Robert W. Denton) she presently is the Step Mother of 7 living children and two who have gone to God, Grandmother of 18, and Great Grandmother of 24. Kevin McLaren died in 2000 in a house fire and Bob Denton, Jr. died in 2010 under the care of Hospice.

Educated by the Religious of the Sacred Heart for Elementary and Secondary School, she then went to Manhattanville College where she majored in both Social Studies and Education. Then she became a Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). As a religious she taught in the schools and worked in the Business Offices, of the various convents where she was stationed: Albany, NY; Rochester, NY; New York City; and Greenwich, CT; except for the six months she was in Rome, Italy studying. She left after 17 years, went back to school and received an MS from SUNYA at Albany in Educational Communications and her permanent teaching certification. Then from Michigan State University she received a PhD in Instructional Development & Technology.

In conjunction with GE at the State University of NY at Albany she ran a computer classroom and as an Assistant at MSU she helped the Faculty improve their instruction. Upon completing her PhD she applied to the Detroit Public Schools but they would not even let her fill out an application. Needing to support herself, she then wrote to the heads of GM, Ford and Chrysler telling them her philosophy of education and pointing out what she could do for them. Chrysler called and asked to interview her. She was then hired by the Chrysler Institute to design a school for them. (MoTech) After that she became responsible for the Upward Mobility of Women at Chrysler Corporation. Thus began 13 years with Chrysler Corporation from which she retired in 1985.

Then Brother Francis Boylan, csc, of Boysville—Holy Cross Services on whose Board she sat, asked her to leave the Board and work for Boysville. This she did and ended up as Director of Human Resources at Holy Cross Children’s Services. Her second husband then decided that he wanted to return to his childhood home in Alpena, MI and so they did. In Alpena Dacia was first appointed and then elected to the Alpena County School Board. With Bob Munroe she began the SBDC in Alpena, MI and helped people begin businesses. She restarted the RCIA Program at St. Bernard Parish, Alpena, MI under Fr. Joe Graff and was the Business Manager of the Parishes of St. Bernard and St. Anne & their schools.

An Evaluator for the US Department of State, USAID she worked at the International Institute in Hawaii, and the Schools of the Country of Benin, West Africa. She also served as a proposal evaluator for the National Science Foundation. One of the things for which she is most proud is that she was an Initiator and Facilitator of Intergovernmental meetings between the City, County and Township of Alpena. She has been an Adjunct Professor at U of D-Mercy, McNichols campus and Spring Arbor College’s Alpena, MI branch.

Upon the death of her second husband in 2002 her children thought it best that she return to the Detroit area which she did. Doing so allowed her to continue her training to be a Spiritual Director with the Jesuits for 2 ½ years (She’d begun in Gaylord with the Grand Rapids Dominicans). Then she became the Executive Director of the Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage, AK. (Owned by the Archdiocese and at that time managed by the Jesuits.) She reported to both the Board, the Archbishop and the Jesuit Provincial.

Upon her return from Alaska she began studies for her MDiv which was granted in 2008 from the Catholic Theological Union. Then the Bishop of Saginaw, Robert Carlson, (now Archbishop of St. Louis), asked her to take over a priestless parish in Merrill, MI, until a priest could be found. A priest was found and took over the parish on July 1st, 2009. Later that year she began training as a Hospital Chaplain at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak,