A vocation found on the low road: Profile of Sister Thanh Pham, S.S.M.O.

At 21, Thanh Pham failed an enrollment exam for a teaching program. Hopes dashed, she dropped out of college, and soon her family assigned the jobless young woman to oversee the care of a sick grandfather. In that clouded moment, things began to shift. Over time, sisters at her grandfather’s care facility befriended her, tutored her until she passed the entrance exam, and eventually wooed her into religious life with their happiness and connection to each other. For six years now, Pham has been teaching first and second grade, and her students call her “Sister.”