She is: Kerry Hubata, co-founder with Miss Phyllis Wills in 1968, of the Evanston School of Ballet, at 1933 Central St., Evanston. Has taught classical ballet for 51 years. She was consecrated a virgin living in the world by Cardinal George in 2003. Youth: “My parents met when they both worked at International Harvester. My dad was plant physician. Mother was supervisor of women in the parts department. In her 20s, she threw her knee out after work jumping rope with the kids in her neighborhood. A coworker convinced her to see the plant doctor. The rest is history. She was the kind of mother who roller skated with us.” ‘Miracle’: Kerry Hubata’s story of growing up in a Congregational Church two blocks from home on the South East Side, and many years later reaching her vocation as a consecrated virgin, is the stuff good books are made of. An only child, her dearest friend from age six was Jackie, a Catholic. “There was all this cool stuff she was learning and I wasn’t. At age 11 I knew there was something missing at my public school and Sunday school. I knew, because of ballet class, how wonderful discipline was. She told her dubious parents the “discipline” of a Catholic high school appealed to her. “It was true, but I knew I’d better not tell them the main reason was I wanted to be a Catholic.” Her godmother produced proof she had been baptized a Catholic as an infant, and after a semester in a public high school, she was accepted at the Academy of Our Lady (Longwood). She had never seen a nun. In a class of 407, she only knew Jackie. But she made her First Communion in sophomore year, and confirmation by senior year. She is sure, “It had to be the grace of my baptism all along to explain my desire to be a Catholic.” After graduation her reluctant parents allowed her to enroll in Rosary College. “I went to Rosary for a year and a half. I left to pursue my desire to dance and to teach. The nuns encouraged me.” Dance: “I was eight when I started dancing. My mother said, ‘If she loves it that much, let’s get a good teacher. We found Miss Phyllis Wills, and that has been a lifelong connection. Years later we opened a studio together. She retired in 1986. She’s 92 and we talk on the phone every day. She’s been teacher and example, best friend, other mother, business partner, and she’s a convert to Catholicism.” Spirituality: “Well, ballet IS spiritual. It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t a dancer, When you’re doing it, it’s you. It’s your soul that’s coming out, not just the technique. Someone once said it is ‘making visible the invisible movements of the spirit.’ When I made my vow of virginity in 1976, after years of yearning and wondering, I thought, ‘Who can I invite to celebrate with me?’ Then I realized ALL of my dance friends, whether Catholic, Protestant or no religion would understand it as ‘the gift of the body, the gift of one’s self.’ And they did! “As a dance instructor I can’t go into the studio and teach religion. I believe the message comes through the dance. I certainly use the name of God, ‘You have to use the body God gave you, not the one you wish you had.’ I hope who I am comes out in what I do. My spiritual life and regular life are one. Dance is my prayer. Ballet played a big part in bringing me to God, and I hope it does some of my students.” Consecration: “As time passed part of me still felt unfilled. I thought of being a nun, but no order taught ballet! I was doing research on liturgical dance one day in the mid-70s, getting into the Church Fathers. They’re talking about this promise of virginity made before a bishop in the early church. About the same time there was a reading at Sunday Mass about the virgin living unmarried in the world. I thought ‘Yeah, that’s me!’ So I asked my confessor, ‘Can I do this?’ He said, ‘In the early church, but not in our day.’ We didn’t know it had been reinstated after Vatican II. “Then in 2001 someone told me Cardinal George was open to the idea of consecrating virgins living in the world. Later, when I finally sat down with the cardinal on April 29, 2003, he questioned me for almost an hour. Then he leaned back and said, ‘Now normally there’s a period of formation for something like this, but I think 27 years is quite enough formation.’ My formal consecration was Aug. 1, 2003 at Holy Name Cathedral. I’ve been enabled to do what I was born to do, through my parents, my teachers, the cardinal, my spiritual directors, the church. I’m so grateful.” Charism: “The Blessed Mother is our founder. She is the consecrated virgin living in the world. There’s the analogy that Christ is the bridegroom and the church is his bride. We consecrated virgins are the counterpart of the church-as-bride, and the priest is persona Christi -- Christ in the world. Some people compare this vocation with diocesan priesthood, where a priest doesn’t belong to an order, he’s pretty much on his own living in the rectory. Favorite saying: “As a child reading Scripture in the Congregational Church, St. Paul stood out, in Romans 12:1, ‘… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.’ As a kid I thought, I didn’t know St. Paul danced!