Narrative Summary
Interview with Deborah Kern by Brandi-Lynne Kern
Deborah Kern grew up in a small, German Catholic town. Raised on a farm until the age
of ten, Deborah’s life was centered on attending Church everyday. Even after her family’s move
to Cape Girardeau at eleven years old, Deborah attended school at St. Vincent’s Elementary and
later, Notre Dame Regional High School. Her father passed away shortly after the family’s move
to Cape Girardeau, so Deborah took comfort in her faith. Once in high school, Deborah spent
time as a volunteer fifth grade religion teacher. Deborah married Danny Kern at age twenty and
immediately became active in the St. Lawrence Catholic Church community in New Hamburg,
Missouri. Deborah became a member of the St. Anne’s Ladies Sodality, an Extraordinary and
Eucharistic Minister, and also, a religion teacher. Deborah’s favorite role within the Church is as
an Extraordinary and Eucharistic Minister, a position she has held for over thirty years.
Deborah’s role model within the Church was her mother, Theresa, who became a widow
at thirty-five years old. Deborah’s mother, Theresa, never remarried and spent her time working
full time and raising her children within the St. Vincent’s Catholic Church community in Cape
Girardeau. For religious questions and advice, Deborah would go to her mother, her six aunts,
and her cousin, Ceil. Currently, Deborah attends weekly Bible Study and loves having a group of
people who are as eager as her to learn more about Catholicism. Deborah says through faith,
family, and friends she has made it this far. To start the day, she wakes up early to say her
prayers for forty-five minutes, including saying the rosary at least once.
Deborah has six children, three daughters and two sons. Her oldest son, Kyle, was born
with bilateral cleft lip and palate and had to endure eighteen facial reconstructive surgeries.
During this time when finances were tight and with frequent trips to the doctors and speech
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language pathologists in St. Louis, Deborah was able to depend on her other family members and
religious community for help. She did admit to questioning her faith during her son’s numerous
surgeries, but overcame these thoughts with the help of her son’s doctor, Dr. Eads. Dr. Eads
always credited his talents with God, so this really helped Deborah see the power of God’s work
through the talent and skill of Dr. Eads.
After being diagnosed in 2013 with Stage II breast cancer, Deborah’s faith only
continued to strengthen and grow. Upon hearing her cancer diagnosis, Deborah’s priest, Father
Casteel administered last rights to her. This gave Deborah a great deal of comfort and a peace of
mind because she knew that no matter what happened in the future, she was prepared for heaven
if something were to go wrong. During her thirteen-month battle with breast cancer that included
numerous surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments at the Siteman Center in Saint
Louis, her faith never weakened; it only intensified. She began praying even more and spent her
free time writing and sending cards of encouragement to other cancer patients and people going
through difficult times to let them know someone was thinking about them.
It was also around this time that Pope Francis was elected, and Deborah loves him and
the new direction of the Catholic Church and even said that he is one of her two favorite popes;
Pope John Paul II is also her favorite. She thinks that Pope Francis does a wonderful job reaching
out to the poor, connecting with Catholic youth, and being a great religious figurehead for the
world to see. Deborah does admit to wanting women to be granted higher religious status within
the Church as priests, and also, for the male priests to have the right to marry and have a family.
She does not see why nuns and other educated women cannot become priests. She thinks that
these changes would help the priests because currently, many priests have multiple parishes and
are often times traveling back and forth between parishes. Deborah does not see these changes
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happening in the near future, but remains optimistic and hopeful for a future, where women can
hold these leadership positions, and priests can marry and have families.
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