Sister Beverly was a member of the Maryknoll Sisters West Coast Vocation Ministry Team. Presently she is Director of Nursing Services at Maryknoll Residential Care in NY.

Sister Beverly Arao was born in Los Angeles, California.She did not grow up Catholic, but did have a religious upbringing. Even though Her parents did not affiliate with any religion, Beverly discovered the beauty of God through her family and a young friend. Her grandparents were born in Japan and her parents were born in California.One set of grandparents were Buddhists and the other grandparents were Baptists.Her Buddhist grandparents were warm and affectionate, and prayed together just before supper. When Beverly was a child, her grandparents included her in their prayer together. Beverly interpreted this prayer time as an atmosphere of warmth, love, joy, simplicity and focus on God. Through her Buddhist grandparents, she learned that daily prayer to God was a loving, warm, joyful and simple need.

Her parents introduced Beverly to the Beauty of the Lord. During one of many camping trips to Yosemite, her father took her by the hand and showed her a snow-capped mountain and the cool, crisp air of the pine forest. He said to her, “This is God’s country". Beverly was so overwhelmed by the Beauty before her, she later concluded that if that was where God lived, then God must be Beauty.

Later when Beverly was seven, a new neighbor girl of six years of age moved next door. One day while the new friend and Beverly were playing, the friend discovered that Beverly had never been baptized. The new friend assured Beverly that she needed to be baptized. After explaining that she was at the age of reason and that she just made her First Communion, the neighbor promptly baptized Beverly with a water hose. A few minutes later, after finding out that Beverly did not know who Jesus was, the neighbor told her all about Him.When Beverly was in first year of high school, she made arrangements with a priest from a new, local parish in her town, and was baptized after three month’s instruction in the Catholic faith.

Beverly first heard of Maryknoll from one of her aunts who is also a convert to Catholicism.Her aunt married in the Church and participated in the annual Maryknoll Carnival at the Japanese mission in Los Angeles, California. Beverly’s cousins were always talking about the “Maryknoll Carnival.”

Before entering the Maryknoll Sisters in 1987, Beverly worked as a cardiac nurse at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Los Angeles. In 1989, Sister Beverly was assigned to Panama, then joined the Maryknoll Sister mission team in Santa Fe, Darien, Panama for eleven years. Darien is a beautiful tropical rain forest. The area where Sister Beverly lived and worked lacked water, electricity, permanent roads, means of communication, and basic health care for the poor farmers and indigenous tribes of twenty-five communities. She and the Maryknoll Sister mission team traveled by horseback to visit these communities. Her team ran a health promotion program, did pastoral work, built a Pastoral Center and a farm for sustainable development.

Later, Sister Beverly studied for a graduate degree in Christian Spirituality and spiritual direction. Currently, she is working as part of the Maryknoll Sisters West Coast Vocation Ministry Team out of Monrovia, California. This ministry involves meeting with young adult women who are discerning their vocations. Sister Beverly offers vocation discernment retreats, gives presentations or classes on Maryknoll Sisters at universities and to diocesan young adult and youth groups. She participates in young adult and youth events including the First National Encuentro of Hispanic Youth/Young Adults.

In December, 2008 Sister Beverly became Director of Maryknoll Residential Care Nursing Services at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, NY. She was warmly welcomed by Sister residents and Staff.