Throughout the United States on the weekend of December 8-9 the Church will take up the 25th annual collection for the retired religious. I have a special fondness for all religious because I deeply appreciate the sacrifices that they have made in order to serve God’s people in our country.
My father died when I was six years of age. My older brothers
were away in the military service in September of 1945. I was home alone with
my widowed mother. On the day after Labor Day I woke up to begin my seventh grade
at St. Columba School in Schenectady, New York. That morning is very clear in
my memory. I found my mother dead. What was supposed to have been the day
beginning seventh grade was a day in which funeral preparations were made for
my mother’s burial. I will never forget that painful experience. However, when I went back to school on the
following Monday there was a beautiful Sister of St. Joseph, Sister William
Edmund. Her family name was Mary Rose Eagan. She received me warmly and
shepherded me through that 7th grade. I often wonder how I would have made it
without her tender caring. She demonstrated this in so many ways in asking me
question about what I did after school, helping me with various projects and
keeping me occupied as well as she could. She was and is in my memory of
gratitude to this very day.
Then, as I went on
to high school the superior of that school was a Mother Maris Stella. I
remember she was principal of the high school and the grade school and superior
of the convent with about 16 nuns in it. On a Friday afternoon when I would be
leaving school she would call me and tell me to be at the convent on the
following morning at nine. She wanted me to have a New York State Regent’s
Diploma when I graduated from high school and she spent her Saturday mornings,
in which she could have been involved in many other pursuits, going over former
Regent’s examinations so that I would be acquainted with them when I would face
the examination the following June. She was outstanding in her generosity and I
think of that generosity to this day.
I’ve always been fond of religious brothers and sisters.
I would be less than honest if I did not say that my experience was solely with
the sisters and my heart wells up with gratitude when I think of them. I have
observed the Church in the United States. It is a healthy Church. Our U.S. Church
has 77 million people. I have thought, and thought often, as to where the
Church would be if it were not for the women religious and the men religious.
The women religious taught in schools all over our country. They ministered in
hospitals. They perform the works of charity. They were the face of the Church
in so many different areas as were the brothers. Where would the Church be in
the United States without them?
Now we have the opportunity to help them in their need.
They do not have the numbers coming into the religious life to support the
elderly who need care. They worked for small stipends and any other surplus income
was reinvested in community ministries. As a result they need our help now and
they need it badly. It is my hope and prayer that the American Catholics will
show their gratitude to these valiant Religious by being generous in this great
collection.
---
Archbishop
Harry J. Flynn is archbishop emeritus of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Editor's
Note: To contribute to the Retirement Fund for Religious, visit: http://www.usccb.org/about/national-religious-retirement-office/
My 6th grade math teacher was a Sr. Maris Stella, from the Dominicans. That was in Sacred Heart School in Suffern, N.Y. In her own words she, "Kept out noses to the grindstone." Because of her I became a much better math student than I would have been.
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