Sr. Anne with Genese and friends
In 2004, IHM sister Anne Wisda applied for one of the IHM Ministry grants to help support a young woman, Genese Sauntilus, at the University of Fondwa, just being founded as the only university in the mountains of Haiti. Last week five years later she returned to Fondwa to celebrate the first graduating class, and especially Genese. Graduation day was hot and humid with four hundred people in attendance. Graduation began with a lengthy Mass and lasted six hours. Father Joseph Philippe, founder and principal of the school called each student up individually to share some positive traits and something humorous about the student. He then invited individuals who had been supportive of the student to come up to give him/her the diploma. In the name of the IHM community Sister Anne was called to present Genese with her diploma. Her family was so proud. After graduation the Sauntilus family with Sr. Anne and also Therese Terns IHM Associate and Kim Redigan, who are very strong supporters of the Fondwa project enjoyed a typical Haitian meal of rice, beans, chicken, goat and soft drinks. Genese invited her IHM supporters to see her sustainable development project in her home town of Carefour Dufort. So the next day before they left Genese gave her friends a tour of her wholesale store supplied with 50 pound bags of rice, 100 pound bags of flour, 100 pund bags of sugar, large boxes of detergent and bottles of vegetable oil. Peasants will purchase these products and transport them by donkey to places in the mountains where they can be re-sold for a little profit.
The IHM community is so proud and happy to have helped one Haitian woman to follow her dream. Genese has become an educated leader for her own community.
Entrance procession
All that glitters is not gold, and I know gold when I see it. On Saturday Sr. Agnes Anderson, with whom I share community, gathered her family, including her mother, her twelve syblings with their families, colleagues, and IHM friends for a joyful Golden Jubilee Mass. A definite Wow! In her reflection Sr. Agnes spoke about the power of questions. She spoke of learning early in her teaching ministry that the key to teaching was not so much in telling her young students information, but in asking them questions that engaged them in the learning. What did you like about the story? Where were you in the story?
In her own life too she had learned that God was with her as she stayed with her questions. When she remained true to the questions God led her to amazing experiences she never would have imagined, for example, teaching elementary teachers in Ghana how to teach. Now as she reflects back on fifty years of IHM vowed life she sees that through her questions she learned that God was enough. She sees that she had always had enough. Sr. Agnes concluded the reflection by singing and inviting the congregation to sing with her “Oh what do we do with so great a love, so great a love?” All of us left chapel lifted up on that love.
Sister Laura (Laura Mary) Hardage, IHM, is a full-time chaplain at St. Joseph Healthcare, which includes two hospitals and nearly 700 beds in the Diocese of Lexington, Ky. Sister Laura works in the largest critical care unit in the hospital, primarily with patients who have undergone cardiac or pulmonary surgeries. “We’re a regional heart institute, and many of our patients are in critical condition,” she says. “A crisis can happen very quickly, so we have a chaplain available on-site 24/7. There is a great emphasis on being with people when they are at their most vulnerable, including as they prepare for death. Being with them is a privilege.”
Sister Laura was drawn to St. Joseph Healthcare because of its values and strong commitments to the poor – values and commitments shared by the IHM Sisters. “We care for the whole person here,” she explains. “Many of our patients come from the impoverished areas in the Appalachian Mountains. They aren’t accustomed to being treated with dignity and respect – it actually comes as a surprise to them!” Sometimes that respect comes with a healthy dose of tough love. Sister Laura recalls a 40-year-old mother of three who was addicted to drugs. The woman needed heart valve replacement. Sister Laura told her emphatically, “God has given you another chance. Don’t mess it up!” The patient was drug-free for about six-weeks prior to surgery and has developed a strong support system, joining a Narcotics Anonymous group, to help her battle her addiction. “She’s doing well, although she’s still hospitalized with IV antibiotics,” reports Sister Laura. “This is what I appreciate about St. Joe’s —everyone gets the same top care and the same respect, regardless of their circumstances or their ability to pay.”
In addition to her role as chaplain, Sister Laura is also a member of the St. Joseph Healthcare Foundation board of directors, as well as several groups working to improve the lives and health of the marginalized within the Lexington community. For instance, through the Justice Committee of the University of Kentucky Newman Center, her home parish, Sister Laura is involved with BUILD – Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-action. “BUILD has 21 religious congregations working together to address community issues,” Sister Laura explains. “For instance, Lexington had rehab programs available to men addicted to drugs, but none for women. Through BUILD, women now have access to services. In fact, St. Joe’s has hired some of them, and they’re getting second chances through employment we’ve developed for women addicted to drugs.”
Sister Laura’s love of those to whom she ministers – both at St. Joseph Healthcare – and through her volunteer ministries — is obvious. “It’s a blessing to me,” she says simply.
