Sister Karen Conover will be winding up 15 years as director of San Quentin’s Catholic Chapel choir for a new ministry.
She will be departing in August for a new role of “internal community service” to the retired sisters who live in an assisted and skilled nursing community at their mother house complex in Dubuque, Iowa.
Sister Karen, BVM, had been ministering to the men of San Quentin’s Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Chapel with her singing and music since September 1999, when she was first invited to visit by Franciscan Brother Rufino Zaragoza, OFM.
“It was a chance meeting. I came and was hooked. In those days we had about 200 men in orange at the services,” Sister Karen says of her initial visit.
She belongs to the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She began her primary ministry teaching high school chemistry at St. Paul’s Parish in San Francisco from 1980 to 1994, where she also taught choral for a brief time and has led the Saturday afternoon parish music program since 1981.
In 1995 she transferred to Holy Names High School, an all-girls school in San Francisco, where she also taught chemistry.
“I enjoy making chemistry accessible to students, especially girls, whether practical or mathematical, in order to help girls to believe it’s accessible,” she said.
She says that she likes teenagers, especially high school juniors, “because they’re old enough to start being their own person but not too old to get ‘senioritis.’”
Regarding her ministry at San Quentin, Sister Karen pointed out that she has a lot of experience choosing appropriate music for the readings and seasons, declaring, “These days we utilize more contemporary liturgical music.”
“Outside people bring a ‘ministry of presence’ to men who are incarcerated,” she tells San Quentin News, adding, “I find a tremendous amount of spirituality here. People are doing real spiritual work such as working on humility, hope, etc., real Christian virtues, more than what I experience in an outside parish. They experience real growth.”
“I enjoy making chemistry accessible to students, especially girls, whether practical or mathematical”
Discussing how her San Quentin ministry has affected her, she said her former housemate and San Quentin parishioner, Sister Maureen O’Brien, BVM, who told her on numerous occasions, “On Sundays, you come home happy.”
“The choir has flourished under her leadership,” remarked Father George Williams, San Quentin’s Catholic chaplain. “I’m saddened; she’s a friend,” he added regarding her departure.
On Aug. 2 she will be celebrating her “Golden Jubilee” in San Francisco, commemorating 50 years since her consecration into religious service, with a second celebration to take place on Aug. 8 in Dubuque.
Despite looking forward to her new calling, Sister Karen admits, “Leaving is the hardest part.”
Choir member and guitarist Alan Brown lamented wistfully, “We’ll always carry her in our hearts here at San Quentin; there will be a missing spot for her for a long time.”
