Missionary nun Sister Mary Beth, a true hero of the Catholic Church

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Sister Mary Beth

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This course had representatives of every race and creed, yet they all rooted for the Catholic nun, whose humility and selflessness was a model for all faiths.  I was moved, touched, and inspired by her work with Child Headed Households (CHH), an organization that cares for children who have become head of their households after losing both parents to AIDS.

She published her experience in a book, AIDS Orphans Rising: What You Should Know and What You Can Do to Help Them Succeed, which can be found on the web site www.AIDSOrphansRising.org.

For the first time in decades, I was intensely proud of the clergy of my church, and my face beamed as I reconsidered my Catholic nature once again.

Though I went to the communications course to improve my leadership skills at work, I unexpectedly found myself resuming a long forgotten conversation with God that we held during my more frequent church attendance.

When I opened my mind and heart to what was going on in Mass, instead of bringing my festering contempt for the collar into the House of God as I had been for the last 10 years, a funny thing happened.

I was inspired to donate to worthwhile causes in the second collection, the retired clergy fund that helped with the medical bills of the dedicated priests and nuns that educated me in my formative years, the religious education foundation, and the mission work of modern day saints like Sr. Mary Beth.

Palm Sunday marks the holiest week in our church’s calendar, which makes the crucifixion of our church officials in the press ironic timing to say the least. Many of the people who communicated poorly will get their comeuppance in the harsh media spotlight, and they deserve all of the pain that they get and then some.

You may be tempted to send a message calling for change in our broken church by withholding dialing down the Easter offering; I know I will.

Perhaps you may want to consider taking that money you saved in the first collection and giving it to a worthwhile cause funded by the second collection? While most women her age are dying Easter eggs with grandchildren, Sister Mary Beth Lloyd and her colleagues are probably spending Easter working miracles in a Brazilian transit terminal with little more than the price of a bus fare.

You can help by making checks payable to Religious Teachers of Filippini and mail to Sr. Mary Beth Lloyd, MPF at Villa Walsh, 455 Western Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey 07960.

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