Shortly after I became Catholic in college, I visited a little steepled white church while home on summer break. It was surrounded by gardens and had a chapel with perpetual adoration (meaning it was open 24/7 for prayer, with Jesus in the Eucharist visible on the altar). When I moved back to California at twenty-eight, I hoped to live near this church on the San Francisco Peninsula.
I asked some friends if they knew anyone who was renting a room in the area and ended up moving in with a woman named Sallie, who lived just blocks from that same church. Brilliant and driven, Sallie began her career on Wall Street and had worked for a number of large companies. Now in her late forties, she had a beautiful home and we had wonderful late-night conversations about career, faith, vocation, and politics.
One night, Sallie shared with me how she had been encouraged as a young woman to nd self-worth and fulllment in her achievements, including successfully competing in the corporate world. In her quest to become a high-performing career woman, however, she let things like marriage and having children fall by the wayside. Now, having recently found her faith, she realized the value of what she had missed.
“It was like all that mattered back then was a career and proving that I was just as good as any man in the office. And I was just as good as any of the men!” Sallie said as we sipped tea together.
“Did you enjoy what you were doing?” I asked.
