Diane Sonneman (middle) with Mark Loyet and Fr. Carroll Miziko, OFM, following a Mass of Thanksgiving on Aug. 25 at St. Augustine of Hippo in East St. Louis (Submitted photo).

Diane Sonneman and Carly Etter have life journeys that God has called them to take.

One has happened over decades; the other is just beginning. But their experiences have made lasting impacts on these two women and the people they have met along the way.

Diane Sonneman

Nearly 40 years in diocese

Sonneman’s journey began in Tacoma, Wash. It took her to East St. Louis and the Diocese of Belleville for almost four decades. In late August, at age 72, she returned to Washington State.

Before she left, though, the parish of St. Augustine of Hippo in East St. Louis and the diocese celebrated her and thanked her for 37 years of service at a Mass and meal on Aug. 25.

Mark Loyet, the diocesan director of faith formation and youth ministry, presented her with a certificate of appreciation signed by Bishop Michael McGovern. Friends from her time in the diocese also attended, including those from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (ASC) and Catholic Urban Programs (CUP), among others.

Looking back on her life’s journey, Sonneman said she married a man she met in high school when they both worked as clowns for parties.

“The first two times we met, we were in our clown costumes,” she recalled, laughing at the memory.

Diane and Tom married in 1972. She was a Catholic school teacher and principal. Tom was a Catholic school teacher. He unexpectedly died in 1984.

“That first year after his death, I tried to figure out what my life would be like,” she said

Serving in education, summers were special for the Sonnemans because they had time off for themselves. They wanted to someday participate in a mission trip to Guatemala, which they didn’t have a chance to do.

That summer following her husband’s death, Diane chose to go to a mission in Mississippi with a group of lay women and the Sisters of the Holy Names.

It was the timing of that trip that led her to the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.

“I wanted to take a rapid Spanish class so I could teach basic Spanish at a club at our school,” Sonneman said. “But the class in the Archdiocese of Seattle was being held while I was in Mississippi.”

As a result, she took the class with the Adorers in Ruma.

The sisters sent her home with their constitutions and a children’s book about their founder. Her discernment to become a sister began.

“In 1987, four Adorers drove to Washington to pick me up,” Sonneman recalled. “We drove the Lewis and Clark Trail backward to Illinois.”

From 1987-93, Sonneman was in formation to become an ASC sister, taking first vows, but decided not to take final vows.

“This was all part of getting me where I was supposed to be,” she said. “In 1993, I began working in East St. Louis and lived for a time in the former convent at St. Phillips.”

While serving in East St. Louis, she was the director of religious education at St. Joseph, director of faith formation at St. Augustine of Hippo, director of Hubbard House, served the Griffen Center with CUP and helped establish a new center in Brooklyn, along with Sister Julia Huiskamp, DC.

“I had wonderful encounters working in East St. Louis. It was the focus of my ministries,” Sonneman said.

It also led her to adopt a young woman named Sukina as an adult. Sonneman worked with Sukina during her teen years when she was in the care of the state. With the adoption, Sonneman became a mother and a grandmother of four. She now also is a great-grandmother of four.

“Working with the African American community made me a better person,” she said. “They embraced me, loved me and are my family, really. I feel rich and full.

“The Spirit led me to serve in East St. Louis. I was blessed with an absolutely wonderful life there. It was difficult to leave.”

Sonneman recently returned to her hometown in Washington to help care for her father and to see where her life’s journey will take her next.

Carly Etter

Journey to Guatemala

Many parishes have “sister parishes” in other countries. The Diocese of Belleville is a “sister diocese” with the Diocese of Jalapa in Guatemala. Connecting with a foreign parish or diocese happens in many ways, often providing much needed financial support.

Missions International, based in Highland, Ill., offers visits to sister parishes that are about relationship building and immersion in another culture. The most recent trip took place in July.

Etter, 23, and her mother, Fran, 57, made this journey to Guatemala for a second time. Both women said they would go again.

They represented St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in St. Rose. Their sister parish in Guatemala is Sagrada Familia (Holy Family Church) in El Jicaro.

As a college student, Etter is on a journey to becoming a veterinarian, one who works in large animal medicine, research, and travels across the United States and other countries.

Her two pilgrimages to Guatemala have left an impression. A day-trip journey to a small town on a mountaintop for Catholic Mass and a party for the children was an amazing experience for her.

“The parish priests in the area are often responsible for upwards of 20 small chapels, which they visit once a month for Mass,” Fran Etter said. “Fr. Edgar’s furthest chapel is an eight-mile hike on foot or motorized bike up a mountain.”

The Etters and dozens of parishioners of all ages joined Fr. Edgar on the three-hour hike up the mountain and carried pinatas, cakes and candy for the children who live at the top. The people there made food for the visitors. After Mass, they had a party, then walked back down the mountain.

For the children at Sagrada Familia, Carly Etter brought a suitcase of art supplies and helped them make rosary bracelets that they sold after Mass to raise money for their youth group.

Students from St. Rose wrote postcards to the children in Guatemala, who then also wrote postcards that Etter brought back to Illinois.

“I have made many friends during these two trips to Guatemala, even though I don’t speak Spanish,” Etter said. “We communicate using WhatsApp, which is what people in other countries use. We also use Google Translate. I talk with some of them every day. It doesn’t matter if you don’t speak the same language. There’s so much you can do without words, and it still feels like a full conversation.”

Etter explained that the people they met at the sister parish are excited that people are visiting them, listening to their stories and thinking about them. Perhaps it helps sustain them through difficult times in Guatemala.

“We are all people on the same planet,” she said. “We are all one. We all want happiness, success, to be able to work together, to make new connections.

“It’s the happiest two weeks of my life.”

It’s those memories, feelings and friendships that will always be with Etter on future journeys.