During those years, Sister Laetitia was an editor of the journal Speling and published on the spirituality of religious life. She also frequently delivered lectures and courses on the Psalms, led discussion groups, and organised days of reflection. In doing so, she travelled throughout the country, meeting many people with whom she spoke about religious life in the contemporary world. In this way, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the mission of the Titus Brandsma Institute as a centre for the study of spirituality ‘in service of Church and society’.
Particular mention should be made of the role Sister Laetitia played in shaping the profile of the Titus Brandsma Institute itself. Not only as co-director, but also through her enduring contribution from within religious life—and especially from the experience of women religious—she helped to define the institute’s distinctive character. In her person, a fruitful connection emerged between academic research and lived spirituality, between university and society, between theory and practice. This very connection, which was far from self-evident at the time, renewed and deepened the institute. Its significance has perhaps become fully apparent only in the years since, as the Titus Brandsma Institute has increasingly come to understand itself as a place where scholarly reflection and spiritual practice illuminate and sustain one another.
On 11 May 2012, Sister Laetitia delivered the annual Titus Brandsma Lecture at St Stevens’ Church. Her impressive lecture, entitled Mercy Works in Secret (in Dutch) can be read online. A recording of this Titus Brandsma Lecture (in Dutch) is also available on YouTube.
Sister Laetitia was a prayerful person, a strong woman, an approachable teacher, and a dedicated administrator. We are grateful for the life of Sister Laetitia. For us at the Titus Brandsma Institute, she helped prepare the path along which we continue, to this day, to carry forward our research and teaching with inspiration.