Catholic Sisters: Strong, courageous, nurturing compassion

© Imelda Maurer, cdp March 23, 2010

On September 10, 1950 our family was on our way to 7:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Within blocks of church a woman ran a red light and hit us broadside. My younger sister and oldest sister sustained serious injuries which resulted in a week’s stay in the hospital for each of them. My oldest sister was knocked unconscious and was also bleeding profusely from the neck. My mother feared an artery had been severed and applied pressure at the laceration – not taking time to remove her Sunday gloves.

After the ambulance arrived and the paramedics had provided emergency First Aid, my mother, of course, accompanied my sisters in the ambulance to the hospital. Mother told the ambulance driver to take her to St. Paul’s Hospital. This request came from my mother’s deep love for the Church and her trust that the Sisters in a Catholic hospital would provide the best physical and spiritual care possible. The ambulance driver told her that St. Paul's Emergency Room was not open on Sunday; he was going to the county hospital. My mother’s response to this was to beat on his shoulder – bloodied gloves ---- and tell him: "You take me to St. Paul’s. The Sisters will let me in.”

The driver pulled up to the front entrance of St. Paul’s hospital. This was well before 8:00 on a Sunday morning. My mother dashed to the staired front entrance leading to the administrative offices. She had gone no more than two or three steps when she saw a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul rushing toward her down the steps. arms open and embracing her when they met. Sister’s response to my mother’s reporting that she was told the Emergency Room was not open on Sunday was, “Of course we’re here for you.”

No matter how many times I remember that story, it is still a very emotional experience for me: recalling my mother’s unquestioning trust in and love for everything connected with the Church, and the human, immediate, effective compassion that wonderful Daughter of Charity showed my mother. (How many hospital administrators are in their office at 8:00 on a Sunday morning?) The story is true in fact and deeply symbolic of the commitment and compassion Sisters have shown those in need throughout our more than 200 years in this country. Sisters nurtured the orphans, taught poor immigrant children, nursed soldiers from the North and the South during the Civil War. All this was often done without pay and at times under oppressive conditions within the hierarchical Catholic Church Institution. Sisters marched in Selma. Sisters have worked for women’s rights. Today Sisters are found beyond the hospital and classroom, though there too. Sisters are answering unmet needs – in metropolitan areas, in hamlets and in inner cities – needs that would continue to go unmet without the involvement of Sisters.

Most recently Sisters acted with strong, courageous, nurturing compassion, this time publicly and corporately. Prominent women religious leaders concluded after a careful study of the pending health care bill that “the reform law does not allow federal funding of abortion and that it keeps in place important conscience protections for caregivers and institutions alike. We are also pleased that the bill includes $250 million to fund counseling, education, job training and housing for vulnerable women who are pregnant or parenting.” (Sister Carol Keehan, CEO of CHA)

On March 15, Sister Carol Keehan, A Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and CEO of the Catholic Health Association issued a statement of support for the pending health care bill. The statement reflected that the bill goes beyond the requirements of the Hyde amendment and said “the time is now for health reform.”

Two days later, Network, (www.networklobby.org) a national Catholic Social Justice Lobby, sent a letter to every member of the House of Representatives saying: “We write to urge you to cast a life-affirming yes vote when the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3590) comes to the floor of the House for a vote.” The letter was signed by Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA, President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. That organization represents 95% of Catholic Sisters in our country. Sister Marlene signed a second time as President of her Congregation, along with more than 50 other Sisters in various capacities of elected leadership within their congregations. I have every certainty that many more congregations would have been represented in that letter had it not been for the necessity of a very close deadline.

In these public actions, I believe, Catholic Sisters were caring in ways we have cared since our beginnings in this country. In the words of Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, “They care for the least, the last and the lost.”

This public, corporate stance for those most marginalized in our society is a source of great pride for me. This is “us” at our best! Strong, nurturing, courageous, passionate! What a gift to be within this circle of women!