Serving God

Two good articles highlighted by Amy Welborn

A Not-So-Simple Life: In a cramped Washington rowhouse, six women share one shower and a quest to serve God (Washington Post, Jan 25, 2009)

"I feel like I'm on the verge of something," Laura agrees, "but I don't know what it is. And I'm like, C'mon!" -- she waves her hands -- "Get there."

Lately, Laura says, she's been thinking a lot about her paternal grandmother, the tiny, silver-haired woman who gave her the silver rosary beads and read the illustrated Bible with her. Laura describes her as "a pillar of sanctity and virtue." She went to college back when that was rare for women and became a teacher. After retiring, she volunteered with an order of nuns, going into the public housing projects of Puerto Rico to help the poor.

"She is always kind of pouring herself out for other people," Laura says. "Most people might see her life as quite ordinary," but she has been devoted to "serving other people, and [that] has made her a very happy and serene person." Her grandmother and late grandfather were married for almost 60 years.

"I've realized," Laura says, "that having a family is beautiful," and it can be another way of honoring God. She and Dave have talked about getting married, though the conversations take place in roundabout ways. "Dave is really good at coming up with euphemisms for 'If we were married,' " Laura says. He uses words like "In a different setting" -- as in, "In a different setting, who would pay the bills?"

Yet overshadowing Laura's questions about her future is something more immediate: another expansion of Simple House. Last year, the ministry was given a house in Kansas City, Mo., offering the opportunity to work among the poor in a second city. Initially, Clark and Laura thought they would help get the new community off the ground while remaining in Washington. But, as the year comes to an end, Clark decides that he will move to Kansas City to run the new ministry himself. Laura is staying behind. She'll miss Clark, but the new ministry is a testatment to what they've accomplished together. "It's really cool to be part of something that's growing and successful," Laura says. "There's more to be done."

Nun Serves God and Army (Washington Times, Jan 25, 2009)

She's an Army captain, a Catholic sister and a doctor.

Deirdre Byrne wears many hats — quite literally: a scrub hat when she's doing surgery and a habit as part of her everyday attire.

The statuesque, graying 52-year-old recently exchanged her habit for a helmet and uniform: She spent three months in southern Afghanistan, serving as a doctor (while treating patients, though, she wears scrubs) and reservist in the U.S. Army.

"We were there to support our U.S. soldiers, coalition forces and civilians," Sister Dede says. Turned out that most of her and the other medical staffs' effort and time were devoted to mending civilian lives and limbs.

"The Taliban is out there every day trying to wreak havoc," she says. "One day, the Taliban bombed a village, and we had 17 patients — flown in by helicopter — in our 10-bed hospital."

While gruesome and heart-wrenching, she says of the experience in Afghanistan: "I was happy to be at the healing end of things."

Which is what she does whether serving as a nun and doctor for the poor in the District or Kakuma, Kenya, through Catholic Charities, or as a U.S. Army doctor in Afghanistan.

She's a healer, and in her unique position as a nun and general surgeon (she also is board certified in family medicine) she's concerned with life here on Earth — and the hereafter.

"I'm not just a pro-life doctor, I'm pro-eternal life," she says. "God makes it very clear that he is working through me. … God gave me the opportunity to be a physician, and he creates the miracles."

Wonderful!!! These dear missionaries are heroic examples to all of us. And they're a testimony to the world that Catholics are not just anti-abortion; we're pro-life: we love and care for humanity, no matter how old they are!