Terri Butel, resident of Kansas City, Mo., and member of St. Thomas More Parish, has joined the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth as the first lay director of Associates. The Associates are a group of men and women who identify with the mission and spirit and share in the ministries of the religious community. 

   There are currently 232 SCL Associates across the United States. Butel became an Associate in 2001 and served two terms on the Associate Advisory Board before assuming her job responsibilities in Leavenworth, Kan., on Aug. 1. As the first lay and the first full-time director of Associates, she said that she feels very fortunate to have a job that will place her "in the presence of Sisters and Associates among whom there is this incredible spiritual energy." 

   Butel met the SCLs as a student attending St. Charles Borromeo Elementary School and St. Pius X High School, both in Kansas City, Mo. She was a Jubilee Scholar at the University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth, Kan., where she earned a double major in biology and chemistry. Butel completed medical technology training at Saint Luke's Hospital School of Medical Technology, Kansas City, Mo. 

   She has worked in the clinical laboratory field as a medical technologist, in sales, client service and executive management. Since 1996, Terri was general manager of MAWD Pathology Group, an organization that provides laboratory services for five hospitals, six ambulatory surgery centers and numerous physician offices in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area. 

   The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth is a religious congregation founded in 1858. The Sisters serve in ministries including education, social services, pastoral work and health care in the United States, Peru and Southern Sudan. For more information, visit www.scls.org.