This fall, Sister Veronica Adeduro is beginning her first year of teaching as an assistant professor of nursing at Goshen College. She is the first nun to teach at GC.

Adeduro is from Nigeria, where she worked as a registered nurse for many years. She later went on to serve as a missionary in Germany for five years before making the move to the United States.

Adeduro shared that “the joy of working in different places is that it makes the people in those places real to me.”

She added one thing she has found that all people have in common: “No one despises love.”

“On the contrary,” she said, “God’s love binds all humanity together, irrespective of where we are born.”

Inspired to be a nurse from a young age, Adeduro has always been drawn to “helping people at all levels.” She sees her calling to beanunasa“greatresponsibility to care for the sick and the vulnerable.”

“Becoming a nurse is one sure way that I can actualize this call as a ministry,” she said.

Adeduro believes that, through her work as a nurse, “Jesus is known and loved.”

After serving as a registered nurse for many years, Adeduro took the next step in her career and decided to teach. She explains that as she worked closely with new nurses, she “saw the need to pass on [her] experiences to the next generation.”

After seeing this need, Adeduro decided to earn her master’s degree in nursing education from Walden University, which she finished this year.

Adeduro did not know about Goshen College until May of this year, when she began searching for a teaching position after completing her master’s program. Adeduro said that the response to her application came back within two days. She was seeking a “faith-based organization” and a “place that promotes holistic growth,” rather than a school that focused simply on academics. Her goal was to move to Goshen to devote more time and attention to her students; she wanted to be available whenever they needed her.

Despite being a Catholic nun teaching at a Mennonite- affiliated college, Adeduro said she “feel[s] very much at home” at Goshen. She explained this is because “Catholic and Mennonite faiths have the same base, lived intentionally in unique ways, making the Christian world very inviting.”

Though Adeduro admitted that she still has lots to learn, Adeduro said that overall she is “loving work here.”

As for her aspirations for her new position, Adeduro said that “Goshen College was the answer.”

“I can only say God brought me here,” she said.