Associate Christa Hanson

Christa Hanson grew up in Davenport, Iowa, the middle child of three in a Catholic family. Although her father worked in a factory and money was always a challenge, the family was committed to Catholic education. The three girls attended St. Alphonsus School. Christa noted, “One of my first memories of Kindergarten was when Sister Miriam Elizabeth greeted me outside the school. I ran up the sidewalk and leapt into her arms. She called me her ‘little liver pill’ – not sure if that was bad or good!” Her elementary school years were positive, from which she gained a good foundation for life, for faith, and for education.

Aside from wanting to be a cartoonist for Walt Disney Studios, Christa loved the thought of being a teacher. After high school, she decided to work a few years before attending college. During this time she felt a call to, in the words of St. Mother Teresa, “do something beautiful for God.” After considering three different missionary congregations, when she turned 21 years old she decided to enter the Dominican Sisters of Oakford.  The novitiate she entered was in Mountain View, California, but the motherhouse was in Oakford, Natal, South Africa.

Many of the Sisters in the Congregation were from Germany. One of the schools staffed by the Sisters was St. Justin School in Santa Clara. Christa recalls, “As a novice I visited St. Justin School. I remember sitting on a bench outside a classroom and thinking that I wanted to teach here.” And she did – after studying at De Anza College in Cupertino and earning an AA degree, and then Santa Clara University with a BA in General Humanities. Her first class was 39 Seventh Grade students. After teaching for five years and completing more of her education, she became principal at the same school for three years.

Christa Hanson with her first class of seventh-graders.

In 1986, two significant happenings changed the direction of Christa’s life: she attained an MA in Art Therapy from College of Notre Dame, and she made the difficult decision to leave the Oakford Community. The next four years were spent in Southern California at Maryvale, a social service agency for at-risk children. A love for the Catholic school system drew her back to the Bay Area, this time to Gilroy, where she became the principal of St. Mary School.

Christa Hanson at work.

Christa says, “You might wonder how this all led to me becoming an Associate of the Sisters of the Presentation. Well, I knew a number of Sisters from the Diocese of San Jose, such as Sister Michele Anne Murphy, who was Principal of St. John Vianney School. And when I came to St. Mary’s, I met Sister Bobbi Green, who was the Kindergarten teacher there. She helped me get acclimated to the school, order books, and get to know the other teachers. We became friends, and she brought up the idea of association with the Sisters.”

Christa read books about the foundress, Nano Nagle, and felt “at home” with the charism of the Sisters. She, too, wanted to “take down your lantern and go out!” She had missed being with others in community, praying together and sharing ministry. In September of 1993 she became an Associate of the Presentation Community.

At St. Mary School, she and Sister Bobbi were able to carry on the Presentation charism through education, prayer, and a celebration of the Feast of the Presentation with a liturgy for the whole school. The children all know Nano Nagle and her mission. While working at St. Mary’s, Christa also was involved with the WCEA/WASC accrediting process for Catholic schools. She participated in many teams within the Diocese and chaired teams in the Dioceses of Fresno, Oakland, and Monterey.

Sister Pat with Christa Hanson.

After 22 years as principal, she accepted a new challenge to take down her lantern by becoming the second director of The Learning and Loving Education Center in Morgan Hill. This Presentation Community-sponsored ministry was a literacy program for immigrant women. There was also a free preschool for their children. The next eight years were filled with many success stories of the wonderful women studying there. Christa says, “I feel that the women gave me more than I could ever give them. They were positive, hard-working, and grateful, in spite of their many daily challenges.” Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the funding and running of the program, and the Center closed in 2020 after 28 years.
 

Now Christa is looking for a new place to take her lantern, and it looks like it will be back in the Catholic School system. She is grateful for the Presentation Community of Sisters and Associates who have supported her, challenged her, given her opportunities for growth in spirituality and prayer, educated her in justice issues, and impressed her with their living out Nano’s charism in our world today. All of them are doing “something beautiful for God.”

 

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