BY PAULA DAY

Twenty-three years educating young children in the archdiocese of Atlanta have been “happy, busy years,” Sister Rita Adele Comber, SNDdeN, said in a recent interview.

The member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur has been a Religious for 50 years and her ministry at St. Thomas More Elementary School in Decatur represents a good part of her life’s work.

A native of Baltimore, Sister Comber is the oldest of Tom and Adele Comber’s four children. She received her early education in Baltimore’s Catholic elementary and secondary schools before entering the Notre Dame de Namur community in the summer of 1944.

“I decided when I was in the fourth grade to be a sister,” she said. “I was attracted to the sisters and entered right after high school.”

Sister Comber earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., and a master of science in education from Catholic University. After teaching stints in the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdioceses of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, she came to Atlanta in 1971.

In 23 years at St. Thomas More School she has seen many changes, the most significant in the parish and school populations.

“When I came here the school was much smaller,” she noted. “There has been a tremendous growth in younger families – many young children. For years we didn’t have any young families.” The shift toward younger families has the school bursting at the seams, Sister Comber said. She now teaches part time and supervises after-school extended care the remainder of the day.

Sister Comber has witnessed another change in her 50 years as a Religious. While the number of women entering her community from Third World countries is increasing, there has been a drastic drop in religious vocations from the United States.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur is an international congregation founded by St. Julie Billiart in Namur, Belgium. Originally the sisters lived out the community’s charism of simplicity, obedience and charity as educators. Now their range of ministry is extensive.

“Our works give the sisters an opportunity to serve God in education, broadly conceived,” Sister Comber explained. This includes various social works, for example, prison ministry and work with migrants.

The five Baltimore Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Atlanta are among the 16 percent of women Religious involved in education in the archdiocese. Religious women also minister in health care, social services, pastoral and spiritual leadership roles and assist in various archdiocesan departments.

Ann Dugan, pastoral assistant at St. Thomas More Parish, said Sister Comber “loves St. Thomas More.” She served on the parish council as its secretary until recently and has taught in the parish religious education program for many years.

“She’s doing a wonderful job in the after-school program. She cares for the kids, and that’s the important thing. She’s a good woman,” Mrs. Dugan concluded.

Sister Comber taught two generations of the Shoemaker family at St. Thomas More. Carolyn Shoemaker, now a sixth-grade student, remembers her fourth-grade teacher as someone who made the lesson come alive with her stories.

“She always had a story to tell that went along with what she was teaching – usually funny, but sometimes scary. I remember one about a teacher who rolled her children down a flight of stairs during a fire. She was making the point of how brave the teacher was and how important fire safety is.”

Sister Comber teaches handwriting to her younger brother, Matthew, and taught her sister, Chrissie, now a sophomore at St. Pius X High School as well as her father, Robert Shoemaker. Her grandmother, Mary Shoemaker, has been a secretary at the school for 24 years. “She’s a great person,” Mrs. Shoemaker said, speaking of Sister Comber whom she has known for 23 years.

The community of St. Thomas More school and parish, the sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and members of her family will celebrate Sister Comber’s golden jubilee at a special 10:30 a.m. Mass, Saturday, May 21, at St. Thomas More Church, 624 W. Ponce de Leon Avenue in Decatur. Father Pat Mulhern, the pastor, will be the celebrant. Sister Comber will join others in her profession group for a weekend celebration in New York City in November.