EAST CHICAGO – When their time at St. Joseph Carmelite Home ended, children took more than a suitcase or box of belongings with them.
“All the things the sisters taught me I took with me, and I continue to go to church, now with my children, and not repeat the bad things I’d done,” said Corrina Torres, 43, living in Fort Wayne with her husband, Sheldon Breisch, as an at-home mother of a daughter, son, and six grandchildren.
Born in East Chicago, Torres said “it was a blessing when she was removed from a difficult home life at age 7. First, I went to a foster home, and when I was placed with the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in 1987, “It was a very easy transition. There were a bunch of girls my age and I just got into the swimming pool with them and I was home.”
“I attended Holy Trinity School until it closed, then St. Mary (East Chicago) and then Bishop Noll Institute,” recalled Torres.
At 16, Torres ran away from the home – “I made some bad decisions trying to find out who I was with my biological family – and ended up in another home which was not as loving as the Carmelite Home.”
Being able to make a comparison, Torres realized how fortunate she had been to spend nine years with Sister Maria Giuseppe and the other nuns. “I always felt very loved and at peace with Sister Giuseppe,” she said. “I was very safe and no matter what, I always felt loved and whenever I wanted something, I could just ask for it.
“The sisters would make crafts with us, and Sister Bernarda taught us to sew,” added Torres. “They helped us with our homework, and I remember they would take us to the beach and we’d go swimming. It was fun to see the sisters in the water.”
Torres remembers about 80 children at the home when she lived there, and she is happy to have been baptized and made her First Holy Communion at the home. “The May Crowning was very special, and we would have a big procession each year,” she said, remembering when it was her turn to crown the statue of the Blessed Mother.
“I talk about the home all the time and say how blessed I was to be placed there,” she added. “I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunities I had without the sisters, and my attitude probably would have been different. They taught me to be a good person and to have faith.”
Torres said she keeps in touch with “a lot of girls” from the Carmelite Home by phone and on Facebook, including her best friend Michelle. “It was like being in a huge family, and we did everything together. It was a home,” said Torres, who planned to attend the Jan. 7 farewell event. “I can’t wait to see Sister Giuseppe again, and Sister Helena Marie and Sister Maria del Socorro.
“It is so sad that it is not going to be the Carmelite Home anymore with the sisters that it kind of breaks my heart; their guidance helped me get through my trauma and they have been with me my whole life,” Torres noted. “I hope it doesn’t become just about numbers, but continues to be about the people.”
Already a teenager when a Lake County judge sent Reina Gonzales Ramirez to St. Joseph Carmelite Home in 2005, the 35-year-old Crown Point resident spent less than two years there, but was impacted in ways that still resonate with her.
Born in East Chicago, she moved to Mexico with her mother as a baby to reunite with two older brothers, and returned to Northwest Indiana at 15 because she wanted to meet her father. She did meet her father, but soon moved to California to be with an older brother. Living conditions there were not safe for Gonzales, however, and she returned to Mexico. Returning to Indiana at 16, she was assaulted and ran away to a friend’s home, ending up in foster care after she confided in a teacher who called Child Protective Services.
Older than most of the children at the Carmelite Home, Ramirez remembers being treated like an individual and with respect by the sisters and always being able to talk to them about receiving added responsibilities.
“Every Sunday we had a special breakfast before going to church, treats like doughnuts and milk that we didn’t have during the week, and at Christmas they made us feel so special. We would attend a Christmas program or play, and there were so many presents,” Ramirez remembered. “They taught us good hygiene and how to be clean, and I always got an ‘A’.”
“I passed by Bishop Noll once and another girl said you had to be smart to go there. I had good grades so I asked Sister Giuseppe if I could attend Noll and she worked it out, sending me there as a sophomore,” Ramirez said.
After graduating from Noll and heading out on her own, Ramirez earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at Purdue University Calumet (now North Central) in Hammond while working two jobs, and returned to Noll to teach Spanish for four years.
Married in 2012 to Michael Ramirez, their family includes Isaac, 22, and Priscilla, 21, stepchildren to Reina, as well as five younger children, Camille, 13, Michael Jr., 12, Matthew 4, Madeleine, 2, and Chloe, one year old.
Now teaching third grade at Longfellow Elementary School in Gary, Ramirez is studying for a master’s in International Studies and Spanish, with a minor in Psychology, at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne.
“Some people have the misconception that the girls who were sent to the Carmelite Home were too ‘bad’ to go to foster homes, and they never got as much credit as they should have. Some children were adopted by great families,” Ramirez stressed.
“For me, the Carmelite Home was a wonderful place. We were treated as individuals and some girls even gave birth there and got to stay and take care of their babies, who were treated so well,” she added. “I ran into Sister Giuseppe recently and I told her how grateful I was for the court putting me in the sisters’ path. They sent me to BNI to succeed and I learned about budgeting, and surviving college. They even sent me to Mexico to see my mother.
“It was devastating to hear the sisters are leaving, and I hope someone is still going to take care of the kids,” Ramirez said.
Caption: Nine-year-old Corrina Torres 'teaches' Sister Bernarda how to hold a baby doll as residents of the St. Joseph Carmelite Home open Christmas presents in 1988 at the East Chicago facility operated for 111 years by the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. (Provided photo)