Sister Paula (Mary Paula) Cormier: 70 Years of Grace

Attending St. Bernard’s High School, Sister Paula encountered the Presentation Sisters for the first time. Years later, she would look back and say, “It was God’s grace that led me to decide to join them.”

That decision came unexpectedly. After her senior year, Paula worked at Burbank Hospital. One day, while checking in a patient at the hospital, she encountered a religious sister. “God’s grace is so mysterious,” she reflects. “That meeting brought the call to religious life rushing back to me with such clarity.”

By that fall, she made a decisive leap. “It was unusual,” Paula admits. “They had just one spot open for a postulant, and they knew me from Saint Joseph Parish. Looking back now, as I celebrate 70 years of religious life, I can hardly believe how it all fell into place.”

Her ministry began in the classroom. Teaching became the foundation for a life of service, preparing her for a variety of roles, including teaching English as a second language—work she continues today at Notre Dame du Lac in Worcester.

But it was her 12 years as a missionary in Sicuani, Peru, that became the heart of her calling. “Before going to Latin America, my view of the world was limited,” she recalls. “Living in a very different culture opened my eyes. God uses so many ways to teach us what he wants us to learn, and immersion in another culture is a profound teacher.”

Back in the Diocese of Worcester, Sister Paula poured her energy into the Spanish Apostolate and served communities in Southbridge and Clinton. She also ministered at the Hispanic Catholic Center in Newburgh, New York.

“Every place we go has something to teach us,” she reflects. “The people we meet—God uses them to call us toward what He is asking of us.”

Over the years, Sister Paula served the congregation in leadership and as novice director. Following clinical pastoral education at St. Raphael’s Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, she brought her compassionate heart to pastoral care at St. Francis Nursing Home in Worcester and as an outreach volunteer at St. Joseph Parish in Fitchburg.

Now at Notre Dame du Lac, she continues to nurture her passion for teaching ESL and recently collaborative with others to begin a garden project that brings life and community to the residence.

Through decades of service, Sister Paula sees a thread of hope that runs through every experience. “How can we not have hope?” she asks. “We still have the gift of the Eucharist. We know God is with us in a special way. We don’t have the luxury of giving up. God has brought us here for a purpose—and we must find it and live it.”