This past Thursday, heaven gained a pretty spectacular angel. My great-aunt Sister Kay was nothing short of a crime fighting, stereotype-smashing, world-changing nun. Her life is one worthy of countless books, from teaching both Palestinians and Israelis despite deafening gunfire to being ejected from Sri Lanka to overcoming cancer and continuing her work despite losing her right arm. No one can put into words the impact that this woman made on the world, but yesterday my grandmother Nomi showed me this letter that Kay wrote herself about her life. I wanted to post it because she has inspired me with her life, and I know that people everywhere could benefit from her story. Pope John Paul II once said "Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure." Sister Kay, you lived your life with Jesus and it showed. Rest in paradise.
From the Desk of Sister Kay...
Ayubowan, Jso San, Marhabah, Aloha
As a teenager I had experience of different cultures, German and the West Indies. National Geographic was my favorite magazine. I knew I wanted to go to college and study to be a nurse. I had a special boyfriend by the time I graduated so I went to work in New York City. It was choice making time. Do I marry Paul or follow my call to Religious Life in Maryknoll?
Since setting forth from New Jersey in 1952, my journey in God’s service has taken me into the hearts of many beautiful people in fascinating places. The gently Buddhist of Sri Lanka shared their quiet contemplative ways, and their non-cluttered life style. I shared my humility learning to speak Singhalese, my skills as a nurse, and most important, my experience of being loved by a person God. Being expelled from the country ended my first mission assignment!
The ship brought me to another island culture and another language. Hong Kong, a haven for South East Asian Refugees. Maryknoll Sisters opened their first overseas mission in 1929 so I was warmly welcomed and worked as an English teacher. Soon I learned enough Cantonese to function as a Clinic Nurse in a Resettlement area and to share life with the refugee poor in the Alley of Ten Thousand Fragrances. The neighbors taught me so much about caring and sharing the little they had. Helping others discover God in their life was thrilling.
25 years later I was back in New Jersey in family ministry. For 2 years I worked at Children’s Specialized Hospital. Staff and volunteers showed me what unconditional love is, American style. The kids taught me how to cope with physical limitations. After my mother died, I was invited to serve on the Nursing faculty at Bethlehem University –over in Israel—on the West Bank of the Jordan. Some of my Sister thought me crazy but they still helped me pack. The change from teaching Chinese women to Palestinian men was quite a shift. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus brought scripture into three dimensions. It was like a five- semester retreat in living color, a dinar in my pocket, Bar-B-Q kid in my pita bread and the Judean desert at the end of the block. Imagine life without TV, private cars, telephone, A/C or a washing machine. My Palestinian students learned nursing theory and nursing skills under siege-like conditions. Since must were young men, they were often under house arrest or under interrogation by the occupying forces. How ironic that this land bridge between Africa, Asian, and Europe, sacred to the 3 monotheistic religions, reflects so little of the message of peace and justice recorded in the Talmud, the Qu’ran and the New Testament.
In 1987, I was assigned to Honolulu to assist in an Interfaiith Volunteer Caregivers program. We are known as Project RESPECT and there are 200 volunteers from 16 churches and temples who serve homebound elderly. Buddhist help Catholics, Muslims help Protestants, and New Age searchers help Jews and vice-versa. What seldom happened in the Holy Land does happen in Oahu. The multi-ethnic make up of the people and the ohana spirit is a wonderful milieu for the Good News to really take hold. My last year in Hawaii, I was transferred to Hilo on the Bid Island. We had 3 teams, which served the homeless with medicine, food, and job help.
In 1993 I went back to our Center. They were looking for semi retired Sisters to go to Waterbury, CT. Eight of us worked in the inner city. I worked on the Pastoral Care Team in the local hospital and had prayer groups in Senior Housing. I then went to Monrovia, CA to support our West coast center for active retired sisters.
Why I was called to this “counter culture” vowed life style is a profound grace and a mystery. I have little doubt that it was the right path for my journey and my unfolding.
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