Sister Leticia Regala, SDS
Still Giving, Growing as a Salvatorian Sister

One Salvatorian Sister refers to Sister Leticia Regala, SDS, as a “fountain of youth and energy.” Her grandchildren call her Lola, the Filipino term for Grandmother. Leticia was a widow, mother of six, grandmother, and nurse. Family members lived on either coast, in the Midwest and in Hawaii. They were all busy with their professions and their own families. She decided she wanted to find new meaning for the coming years and she knew that her faith was strong and she had many more years to contribute. 

She was called to deepening her faith life and started to make retreats. Where was God calling? As a woman of faith and service, she was able to say, “Thy will be done.” At one point she was invited to enter a religious community and she began to consider the idea. “I had read about second vocations for men as priests and women religious have also been experiencing this trend as well."

After an initial formation process, Sister Leticia Regala, SDS, will make perpetual vows on Sunday, June 26th, at the Sisters’ Province Community House, 4311 North 100th St., Milwaukee. Her two families (biological and Salvatorian) will celebrate her call to be a sister.

“Married life actually prepared me for religious life and community. As a wife and mother, I was asked to be generous, flexible, and open to growth and change. Within community the same values are needed as we try to affirm and support one another,” Sister Letty explained. 

She currently lives in community at St. Pius X Parish, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, with three other Salvatorian Sisters. “We all share common Salvatorian values but each of us ministers in different ways. I enjoy community life and the other Sisters respect my maturity and life experiences,” she said.

“My family can see how happy I am,” she said. She retains her strong family ties. But today the Salvatorians are also very much a part of her family life.

During her apostolic years in formation, she served as a chaplain/ pastoral team member in Phoenix, Arizona; with senior Salvatorian Sisters recording their oral histories; in pastoral care in a Wisconsin nursing home and parish; and she had an immersion experience with Salvatorian Sisters in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Currently, she is assisting the Sisters’ New Membership Office with vocation matters. For Sister Leticia, the coming years promise even more opportunities.

She and her late husband Dr. Emilio Regala Jr. raised their family of six children in Hartford, Wisconsin. and belonged to St. Kilian Parish. The couple had met and fell in love in their native Philippines. Letty was also active in the Cursillo Movement and Legion of Mary. She had earned a master’s degree in nursing and also was a Catholic lay volunteer in  Homestead, Florida, after Hurricane Andrew devastated the area.

“While in Brazil, I learned about the culture and ministries of our Sisters. We have an international membership and serve in twenty-nine countries. In Brazil, we serve in hospitals, orphanages, pastoral work, schools, nursing homes, and counseling. There were the same challenges of the very rich and very poor as I observed growing up in the Philippines,” she said.

She feels her call to religious life was a matter of Divine Providence. She was attending Mass with one of her adult children in Milwaukee and saw a card posted on the board about the Salvatorians. Through that card, she was connected to the Sisters’ Vocation Director who fostered her vocation journey.

“From the beginning, I felt comfortable. There was another Sister who was a grandma too. The Sisters are real people. They celebrate life fully. I was drawn by the simplicity of their mission, to make Jesus the Savior better known and loved. I was also touched by their universality, inclusiveness and openness to ministry choices. I have energy and want to be able to keep growing and giving. One of my goals has been  to learn Spanish and work with Hispanics, maybe either with the Cursillo Movement or even in an international context," Sister Letty added. 

For this Salvatorian woman of prayer and service, the future is bright.