At Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Rev. Hans Alexandre
described Sola as a "tireless servant of God"
who helped build houses, worked as a nurse, fed the hungry
and created a workshop where prosthetic limbs were made
for amputees injured in Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.
Full story here.
Pope Francis mentioned her today in one of his messages for the canonization of Mother Teresa.
May heaven be hers.
ReplyDeleteRIP Hermana Isabelle.
Some have noted she didn't look like a nun, others wonder if she wore a habit she might not have been shot. They mean well, I'm sure.
DeleteThe fact is, some religious do not wear habits - they may wear a cross or a pin. Each Congregation makes those decisions.
What is actually offensive with those speculations - to some degree - is that many lay missionaries work in Haiti (and elsewhere in the world) and have no habit to protect them. My parish has a mission in Haiti and laity from the parish go down and work there. Any one of them could be killed in the same manner.
We all have our cozy houses, some religious have lovely convents and monasteries, but how many live on the 'peripheries' like Isabel Sola Matas, or the Missionaries of Charity?
Incidentally, I'm fairly certain the habit of the Missionaries of Charity is pretty much ordinary dress in India - except they cover their heads and all wear the same blue and white, and they pin it with a crucifix.
Sad fact is wearing a habit is no guarantee for being spared from violence. The Missionaries of Charity have suffered much in India, Pakistan, Yemen, and now, Argentina. Terrorist attacks, rape ... robbery.
DeleteThe two nuns murdered in the South, I think Mississippi, were not wearing habits and had worked in a clinic for years. They lived together too. You can imagine some of the speculations going on there ... I had to stop reading anything on them.
I used to be critical of religious orders who abandoned the habit. I still like to see the habit, but doggone it, if they're performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy in the world, then *bleep* me and my judgmental attitude.
ReplyDelete