Sisters and affiliates offer widespread Spokane presence

Meet affiliate Pam Small

In 1997, Sister Margaret Mary Conway invited Pam Small to join the FSPA covenant affiliation program. Pam did so with Sister Margaret Mary as her contact. She currently ministers as a lector at St. Aloysius Church, near Spokane’s Gonzaga University, and serves the Jean Vanier L’Arche organization’s Faith and Light program, centered on children and adults with intellectual disabilities. With her Katari group in 2013, Pam made a pilgrimage to the Coeur d’Alene reservation in Cataldo, Idaho, and has served the homeless ministry of her parish for six years. She is a member of the Francis Community (that includes affiliates from coastal Oregon, south Idaho and central British Columbia), meeting with them several times each year. 

Her dedication to FSPA is apparent in her favorite memory that took place in February 1999, when she was hospitalized with a stroke. Then affiliation co-ministers Sister Suzanne Rubenbauer and Marci Madary “arranged for a speaker phone so I could participate in Area Days from my hospital bed.” 

Pam is one of three FSPA affiliates serving in Spokane. There are seven affiliates serving in the state of Washington.

Meet Sister Joanne McGoldrick

Sister Joanne McGoldrick is a native of Spokane who knew the community as a reporter at The Spokesman-Review and infused justice to its people through counseling and social work. She entered the FSPA community in 1986 and continued to minister in Spokane for many years where, as a state-certified family counselor, she cared for clients of The Salvation Army and Love Church Services Network—an organization that takes a need in the community and connects it with a church or agency that can remedy it. In 1994, Sister Joanne became the first director of FSPA’s spirituality center, Clare Center, a position she held for four years, and then served parishioners of St. Peter Parish as a pastoral assistant. In 2003, Sister Joanne retired and today continues to serve the Spokane area among residents of Rockwood Lane Retirement Community where her presence is amiable, personal:

I visit with the ladies at Rockwood Lane, the condo in which I also live. Each Sunday before dinner we have gather in the Comfort Zone, connecting with and caring for each other, always with a good turnout and lots of laughs and storytelling. We share hobbies, talk about now and then, and bring pictures of mothers, fathers, grandparents and children. Music and art have brought us enjoyment; once, we even put on a show with our pets. On another occasion we confessed to hilarity in what we called our 'I Love Lucy' moments. It really is a comfort zone.