Sister Clare Bass was born and raised in Biloxi, located on the beautiful Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Sister Clare is an incredibly family oriented individual so she makes sure to visit her family in Mississippi at least twice a year.  Her family also come up and visit her in St. Louis often and stay at the St. Louis Motherhouse!  Clare especially loves being an aunt to her nephew Dylan and twin nieces Mia and Elena.

Before coming to Saint Louis as part of formation, Senator Claire McCaskill had drawn Clare to the city for a visit, as Clare volunteered on Senator McCaskill’s campaign in the summer of 2006 in which she proceeded to win her first term as Senator. Sister Clare fell in love with the city at the time, but never thought she would end up living here! In 2009, Clare began a serious discernment of religious life and found out that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in Saint Louis.

Sister Clare’s hobbies include watching and playing sports!  Her favorite teams are the New Orleans Saints, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and of course the hometown teams of the St. Louis Cardinals, Blues and SLU Billikens!

Clare states her inspiration to join the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet was the Charism of unifying love that moves us to be a peaceful presence in the world as we try to unite neighbor with God and neighbor with neighbor so that all may be one. She also resonated with serving the dear neighbor without distinction as that value of equality has always been core her my life.  Her advice for others considering religious life is to “take the leap of faith and jump! You will be surprised even beyond your wildest dreams what God provides and has in store for you.”

Clare wants to emphasize that anyone can be called to religious life.  Those in religious life are not only “perfect of flawless” people.  “I am far from either, and I think it’s safe to say most of us are too! It’s not about being perfect, instead life is about being your unique and authentic self.”  She also wants to urge that religious life isn’t a “better” life than married or single life.  “It is not a hierarchy where one vocation is better than any other.”