Lina was born on July 9, 1921 in St. Boniface, MN, in a bilingual family. Her parents ensured the children received a good education. Her father died when she was thirteen, leaving her mother alone to bring up the seven children.
Lina became a Sister of Providence of Montreal in 1941. She had the gift of an intellect that wanted not just to know but to understand. To her, thinking and learning were the most exciting things a person could do, and learning about God and sharing that knowledge with others was of prime importance to her.
She became an excellent teacher and ignited that same excitement in her classes by making difficult concepts understandable and stimulating the students to think more deeply than they ever had before. Her own pursuit of a deeper knowledge of God, especially as “Providence” was a life-long passion, one that she communicated to others in her teaching at St. Joseph’s Seminary/Newman Theological College, Edmonton, AB, where she was a full-time professor and Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies.
In her own studies she achieved a Master’s in Education, a Ph. D in Theology and qualification as a psychologist. Her students, her own religious community and other religious communities, dioceses and interfaith groups benefited by her studies and her ability to relate theology to the social sciences. She held positions of responsibility in her community and served various faith groups as a member of advisory boards and speaker on Providence spirituality, psychology and theology. She authored numerous papers on these topics; her final work was a small book, “Theological Reflections on Providence.”
Sister Lina died at Providence Centre, Edmonton, AB on March 27, 2011, finally where she longed to be: absorbed in the Mystery that is God.
LINK: http://sistersofprovidence.ca/about-us/our-history/theological-reflections-on-providence
