By Sister Kathleen Feeley, SSND
It was Monday morning, and I was standing in the hallway in the Franciscan Center as I do every Monday morning, greeting (and clicking the counter) as each person in the food line reaches the doorway and picks up a tray. It was about 11 a.m. A well-dressed African woman was next in the line, and instead of picking up a tray, she asked me, "What is your name?”
“Kathleen,” I answered.
“Your last name?” she queried.
“Feeley,” I responded. Her face brightened.
“From Notre Dame?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
She put her walker aside, stepped forward, and threw her arms around me and hugged me so tight that I could hardly breathe. She held me and held me. Then she stepped away and said, “You gave me a scholarship to Notre Dame College many years ago. I am from Nigeria, and Sister Melmarie told you about me, and asked you to give me a scholarship, and you did!”
I took a deep breath, and my voice returned. “I am glad to meet you! Tell me about yourself.”
The first of her three names was Nnenna. She said that she majored in Sociology, and studied Social Work. She was a social worker for the State of Maryland for many years, was disabled on the job, and was now on disability. She had brought her son to the US; he married, and now she delights in her two grandchildren. She had bought a house in Hamden years ago, and she still lives there.
Sister Melmarie Gentry was the first SSND in a long line of others who heard the call of the Church to become missionaries in Africa. She attended her Jubilee Renewal Program in Rome in 1971, and met an African priest who inspired her to teach in Africa. She received permission to go with the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, who welcomed her to join their ministry in Nigeria. She ministered with them until her return in1978.
It was during this time that she must have met Nnenna. On one of her home visits, she must have talked to me about a scholarship for the woman who was now facing me.
It intrigued me that we actually met. I am only at the Center one day a week, and she told me that she seldom goes there but she needed a service that the Center provides, and she decided to also have a meal. Our meeting took me back to the years that I ministered in Africa.
Today, the newsletters from our Sisters in Africa share the fruits of that bold decision that our leaders made in 1970.
Three cheers for our African Province!
