Colleen McNorton believes God has been preparing her to be director of Catholic Social Services since the day she was born.

“I’m adopted from Catholic Social Services out Chicago,” McNorton said. “So this is home in the truest sense of the word — I came from this place. I’m full circle.”

Her relationship with God and the Catholic Church have always been important in her life, and she feels that from day one, God has ordered her steps. Now, she’s officially working for him full-time.

McNorton worked several jobs before coming to Catholic Social Services, and each one of them prepared her in some way for the work she’s doing now, she said.

After graduating from the University of South Alabama with a degree in criminal justice administration, McNorton wanted nothing more than to be a police officer.

It was 1973, and she was met with opposition when she asked for an application at the Mobile Police Department.

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guaranteed equal employment opportunities for women, Alabama’s paperwork hadn’t caught up to the federal law, McNorton said. Written clearly on the application were the words, “Open to all United States male citizens.”

So she sued the Mobile Police Department, and it changed the paperwork as a result.

However, McNorton was only 20 at the time, and the age requirement to become a police officer was 21. So she took a job teaching junior high social studies and religion at St. Dominic Catholic School in Mobile.

She enjoyed teaching for four years, but after teaching her students a course in Alabama case law, she realized she had to pursue her dreams of law enforcement.

“I hadn’t been in law enforcement yet, and I was putting it off because I got married, and my husband didn’t really want me in law enforcement,” she said.

McNorton applied and was accepted this time, and she spent the next 10 years working at the Mobile Police Department. She also worked at the Daphne Police Department for five years.

After a successful law enforcement career, McNorton decided she needed another change. She began working at the Mobile Press-Register as a clerk in 2001, where she thought she would work for the rest of her life.

But in June of 2012, the Press-Register announced across the board staff cuts, and McNorton lost her job. She had until Oct. 1 to find another source of income.

“I went home and told my husband, who had bought a truck the day before,” she said.

She was determined to find another job, and she prayed for the perfect opportunity to arise. When she saw the position for the director’s position at Catholic Social Services, she decided to pray specifically about that job.

And after three interviews, she got it. Her last day of work at the Press-Register was Sept. 30, and she started work at Catholic Social Services Oct. 8.

“I swear, it’s not just a minor miracle; it’s a major miracle,” she said.

McNorton filled the vacancy left by longtime, beloved director Michele Prockup, who McNorton happened to have known in college. The two had several classes in common and also worked together on a few community service projects.

She knew Prockup had left a wonderful legacy, and she said she felt honored she was chosen to take her place.

Since October, McNorton said she has been welcomed by the other workers and feels at home at Catholic Social Services.

“I have felt like I’ve been here 10 years,” she said. “These women have made me feel so comfortable.”

Office manager Phyllis Beam said she wasn’t sure what having new leadership would be like, but she said she and all of her coworkers feel like McNorton was a divine appointment.

“I’ve been here eight years, and you don’t know what to expect when somebody new comes in, but she has been the right person,” Beam said. “She hasn’t come in and changed everything, but she’s brought a whole new outlook on things and new ideas. There’s not many people who could do that. I couldn’t be happier.”

McNorton said she is just happy to have a job where she can serve. In each of her previous occupations, she enjoyed the service aspects the most, and now, her job description is full-time servant. 

“That man on the cross, he’s directed me through thick and thin, and he put me right here where I belong,” she said. “I think I’m in the right place to serve.”