Even as a child growing up in Bodo, a city in southern Nigeria, Sister Rose Ereba knew what she wanted to do with her life.

She saw herself caring for others, perhaps being a nurse, a young humanitarian at heart.

Sister Ereba was raised in a devout Catholic family, the second of three children. Her father, who was a trader at a provisions store, made sure the family rose at 5 a.m. to attend Mass. Her mother farmed the family’s sizable vegetable crop assisted by her children who attended government-run Catholic schools.

“We grew up in a very warm family where each of us was like an apple in the eye of our parents,” Sister Ereba said. “Each had a place of value in their hearts.”

Appointed just five months ago by the Diocese of Sacramento to the work with black Catholic youth, Sister Ereba has set to work on a clearly defined mission.

“This diocese is a tree with many branches,” she said. “We want to reach out to young people at the grassroots, to let them know we care for them.”

Caring about people is a lesson she learned first from family, and then as a teen-ager who by the age of 19 had decided on a vocation.

“I had always thought of being a nurse. I never thought of being a nun,” Sister Ereba said, recalling with amusement her father’s persistence in guiding her toward religious life.

It was, in fact, a friend of her father’s, a deacon in her parish, who gave Sister Ereba a book titled “Why Not Be A Nun?”

“I found what I was looking for—humanitarian service—from reading the lives of the saints,” she said. “I found myself applying to every convent in Nigeria.”

With the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, a religious order whose charism is love and service, she found a perfect match.

During her training as a novice working as a counselor to other young novices, Sister Ereba discovered something more.

“I was moved by the spirit working with young people,” she said. “It was a large community, full of humor and life, a family. We saved our money and gave to the poor, sharing with the underprivileged.”

Sister Ereba, who took her final vows in 1988, worked as a teacher and youth ministry coordinator in Sierra Leone, and as a principal of an elementary school in Nigeria. She then studied for two years at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome.

Other work experience before coming to the diocese includes youth ministry in Milan, Italy.

Upon her arrival in the United States in 1998, Sister Ereba worked in youth ministry and as a Catholic pre-school teacher in Marksville, La.

Among of her first tasks since arriving in the diocese has been to conduct a survey of black youths at several Sacramento-area Catholic high schools and selected parishes. The survey is an opportunity for young people to note activities in which they would like to participate.

Sister Ereba also helped coordinate the recent diocesan Black Catholic Evangelization Conference.

“Many (young people) have said they want to know why they are black and Catholic,” she said. “They want to know more about the beauty of their culture and its values, so they can proudly claim it. They want to know more about their faith. We want to reach out to them.”

Sister Ereba is coordinating a youth day, titled “Our Black Catholic Heritage,” to be held Feb. 9 at Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento. The event, to be attended by Auxiliary Bishop Richard Garcia, will be an opportunity “to celebrate the gift of our youth and bring them together.”

Targeting junior and senior high school students and young adults, the event will include music, games, dancing, food and opportunities for young people to share their cultural heritage and faith.

Brenda Adams, a member of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, is among several volunteers working with Sister Ereba on the youth day. A recent convert to Catholicism, Adams said that the youth event, like her own journey in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, will enable participants to discover the existence and significant contributions of blacks to their faith.

“I think it’s important for us to get a sense of identity of how blacks interplay with the whole Catholic tradition in the church,” she said.

John Groce, pastoral associate at Divine Savior Parish in Orangevale who works daily with young people in religious education, is collaborating with Sister Ereba in efforts to connect or reconnect with black Catholic youth. Groce said that one of the challenges is to bridge the information gap that comes from living on the West Coast.

“Blacks from Mississippi to the Pacific don’t have an understanding of the richness of black clergy, black saints, the richness of music and contributions to the church over the last 500 years,” he said. “The richness of the black Catholic movement gives flavor to the liturgy, to the music and to the celebration.”

Other activities being planned in the months ahead include a youth retreat, workshops, an open house and a youth fair.

As part of her pastoral work with the black community, Sister Ereba is also organizing a black women’s conference to be held May 18 in Sacramento.

She said one of the blessings of her work has been working with volunteers “on fire with serving youth at heart.”

A challenge ahead is to network with other black youth coordinators throughout the country to aid in her ministry.

For more information or to register for “Our Black Catholic Heritage” youth day, call (916) 733-0123.

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