I came from an Irish-Catholic family from a small town outside of Boston. My older sister became a nun, and I seriously thought about becoming a nun as well. I studied nursing at Boston College and resolved not to be a nun but a missionary after I graduated. I completed one year of volunteer nursing in the West Indies. I thought it would satisfy the deep desire I had to "do something for God."
After returning from the West Indies I planned to go to New York City to attend a Master's program in nursing, even though I still had this persistent spiritual question. Before I left, I remember shaking my mother in the kitchen holding on to her arms saying "What am I supposed to do for God?" She patted my arm and said, "Just go to school, and it will get clearer." Soon after I arrived, I went to the school counselor at Teachers College, Columbia University, telling him also I had a strong sense that I needed to "do something for God!" He took avid notes for 15 minutes then referred me to someone else.
In the fall of 1967, I came to the church center on several evenings to listen and to discuss the ideas of the Divine Principle. Most of it I could support, but of course, the conclusion caused conflict. What if it were true? How could I know? I did not want to lose the close relationship I had with Jesus, yet at the same time I wanted to know if God was leading me to something new through these unique and humble circumstances? The center at that time was a small apartment near Times Square in Manhattan.
After studying in New York, I went to Washington, D.C., to meet more members at the Upshur Street residence. I met Nora Martin Spurgin, Farley Jones, Phillip Burley and many others. As I made my way out of Upshur House, I tried to appear only mildly interested in what I had heard when saying goodbye, yet all of a sudden a torrent of tears came, and I cried like never before. I felt like I finally had found my spiritual home.
From Tribute, pp. 160-61.