By Grace D’Amico, SSND
A few months ago, Sister Leonora Tucker, my office neighbor in OLPH House in Wilton, introduced me to Sister Emily Wureh, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family, an indigenous Liberian community, who was visiting. Sister Emily had been taught by our Sisters in Zwedru, Liberia. That brief encounter brought me back nearly fifty years ago to when I was a young SSND at St. Saviour Convent in Brooklyn, New York. It was from that convent that the very first School Sisters of Notre Dame went to Africa, sailing on a freighter from a pier in Brooklyn, across from Manhattan, on the day the twin towers of the World Trade Center, still under construction, had just reached their full height.
As a young Sister who had just taken final vows, I was very moved and wrote an article which appeared on the front page of the October 1970 issue of Communiscope, our Wilton Province’s new grassroots newsletter. Under the headline, “An X-ray of the African Departure,” the article began:
A journalist can recount the event very succinctly: On October 11, 1970, the School Sisters of Notre Dame held a departure ceremony for Sisters Marie Daniel Dooley, Helen Reed, Sean Maura Killilea and Kathleen Wahl at the Motherhouse. Members of St. Saviour Parish were present. The following week, on October 20, Sisters Marie Daniel and Helen sailed from Brooklyn aboard the African Star for their new mission in Liberia, West Africa.
But we are not journalists. I, for one, am a Sister. And these are my Sisters who are leaving my home to bring their love and care to our brothers and sisters in Africa.
As soon last the ship slipped out of the pier, we drove to 69th Street to see it pass, and then to the Verrazano Bridge to see it sail out into the Atlantic Ocean.
We had no idea when we would ever hear from our Sisters again. In those days, there were no phone calls from Africa, no internet, no email, only snail mail, which we called simply “mail” – self-mailers called aerograms, to be exact. We also didn’t know that history was being made, that by the turn of the 21st century there would be so many African SSNDs that the individual missions would become an African Province, or that an African Sister would be a member of the General Council by 2018.
In the Communiscope article I tried to probe the meaning of the event. I recounted, In May 1969, after Father John Feeney, SMA, came to visit his relative, Sister Sean Maura, four Sisters - three of them previously mentioned - came to the community room where some people were filling out the usual [mission] volunteer cards. These Sisters volunteered for Liberia. To myself I said, ‘I’d really hate to lose these people because they are such an asset to the community.’ But I relaxed, because I thought it would never come to pass. After all, there were no SSNDs in Africa!
I can’t imagine what Mother Paschal Carton (who in a matter of weeks was about to complete her twelve years as the founding Provincial of the Wilton Province) thought when she received those index cards! My account continued, But things began to happen. Sister Marie Daniel and Sister Helen were asked by the new Provincial, Sister Petronilla [Killigrew], to go to Puerto Rico, one of our province’s mission territories. Of course there were many letters, many discussions. I can guess that “Are you sure?” was asked many times. Something made them sure. The Spirit? Can the Spirit work such wonders? Can he make the ridiculous—the impossible, come true? Apparently.
It seemed significant to me that while the Africa plans were being crystalized, the General Chapter was deciding that the theme of the new constitution would be “mission.” Of course that new constitution would become You Are Sent, and the new General Superior was Mother Georgianne Segner.
I continued in the Communiscope article:
The first reactions in our house, the province, and the parish were not favorable: The Sisters leaving were doing an injustice to the province, so short of Sisters; to the parish, already laboring under heavy financial burdens; to their elderly parents, who needed their nearness.
The Spirit spoke. And I believe he spoke not only to the four Sisters but to those of us who watched them answer him. He spoke to me. As a Sister considering the making of a permanent commitment in vows, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Sisters. I was inspired by an extraordinary expression of dedication I have associated with religious life. The Spirit spoke to our community at St. Saviour. I don’t know what the inmost reactions of the Sisters were, but it seems to me that they are still listening very intently for the Spirit to speak again. You can see it while they pray.
The Spirit spoke to our parish. In the beginning, as Mr. George McCormack said at the departure ceremony, the parishioners were a bit annoyed because there would be fewer Sisters to care for their needs and those of their children. But, as Mr. McCormack put it, ‘The Sisters shook us up.’ So many people in the parish realized that none of them could be content unless they spread Christ’s message outside of parish boundaries. They are grateful for all the Sisters have done in the parish, but they also see that there is work to be done among their brothers and Sisters in Liberia. They are happy to send a part of the St. Saviour family to do it. This is their mission. They have received the gift of God’s presence and they want to share it.
People of the parish, in fact, contributed to the Liberia mission for many years.
I concluded my article:
I said I wanted to probe the meaning of the event. Perhaps it is this: The Spirit is speaking all of the time. Christ promised us he would be with the Church. The very sensitive among us listen. They respond. They ‘shake us up.’ They sharpen our own sensitivities. We listen. We find that the Spirit really does speak. We can hear him—first he talks about other people. Then he speaks to us, about us. What do we do? There’s really no choice.
But of course, there is a choice. This is the wisdom I’ve gained in the nearly fifty years since I wrote those words. Personally, I’ve done my best to stay out of Africa, not seeing myself as missionary material and as someone who hates bugs. But our SSND missions, especially the ones in Africa, have a special place in my heart. I like to think that I have continued to listen to the Spirit, discerned, and responded in ways that have allowed me to use the gifts God gave me – including writing about and obtaining donations and grants for our missions. I’ve been called — and sent — so many times I’ve lost count, but I know I have served in at least 22 ministries over the years!
A lot of water has passed under the Verrazano Bridge since that first African departure. The first missionaries were followed by a steady stream of Wilton SSNDs for the schools in Zwedru, and for new missions in the capital, Monrovia. Sister Petronilla, who had visited the first missionaries during her term as Provincial, went as a missionary to Liberia after her term had ended. Sister Rose Curtin, also from that St. Saviour community, became a member of the formation community of Sister Emily’s congregation, which had just been founded by Cape Palmas Bishop Boniface Dalieh. Sister Leonora was appointed the diocesan Coordinator of Catholic Schools. Over the years, many Sisters served in Liberia, until being forced out of the country in 1990 during the civil war.
But by then, other provinces had sent Sisters to other African countries, many new missions were established, and eventually SSND was allowed to receive postulants. Some Sisters who could no longer serve in Liberia, like Sister Leonora, continued to serve in SSND missions in other countries. Sister Marie Daniel, now known as Sister Mary Dooley, attended the installation of the first African Provincial Council in Ghana, which I can only imagine was a very profound experience.
In 2009 at a NAMA “Embracing Solidarity” gathering in Baltimore, several of our young African Sisters came to the open mic and spoke with such clarity, vision, and wisdom that my reaction was, “The future of the Congregation is in good hands.” I do believe that the Holy Spirit, whom we would never refer to as “he” these days, is still very much with us! And please, God, we are still listening!
