Call to vocation inspires former hermit to found new religious order

Published: 2004-02-20

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CNS) -- More than 14 years ago, Mary Goffena, a religious education and elementary school teacher in Columbus, Ohio, gave up her career, her parish activities and her home to become a hermit. She had felt God calling her to give up her earthly possessions, and moved to a secluded farmhouse in Newark, Ohio. For more than a decade, she tended to the land, grew vegetables and planned to devote the rest of her life to prayer, meditation and simplicity. But the Lord had different intentions for her and turned all those plans upside down, she said during a recent visit to the Diocese of Harrisburg. The former teacher-turned-hermit is now Sister Margaret Mary, a consecrated religious who devotes much of her time to distributing prayer cards and CDs and is establishing a religious community, all in an effort to promote adoration of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. In an interview with The Catholic Witness, Harrisburg's diocesan newspaper, Sister Margaret Mary said she had complete faith and trust in God throughout her series of lifestyle changes, as drastic as they were.

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