Giving
Our Sisters Return Home From Brazil
After 32 years of dedicated ministry, Srs. Victoria Ewers, Mary Stenger and Jovita Stenger have returned home from Brazil. We are grateful for the presence, compassion and hospitality they offered to the people, and for the countless times they graciously committed to standing "with our sisters and brothers who are poor and on the margins of society."
Here are reflections of our sisters:
Jovita Stenger, FSM
Our beginning in Brazil was difficult with not knowing the language, the customs and culture, getting used to the perpetual heat, only having electricity for three hours each evening, no indoor toilet or running water and no communication via telephone, television or radio. Our only communication was through mail. (In fact we became famous for the first several years at the Post Office. Our sister, Mariella Stenger, FSM, was such a faithful communicator for these 32 years and her letters came often in the beginning and the postal workers wanted to know why we were so important, receiving so much mail!)
During our first year, we spent time with a doctor who came in from another city. Many of the patients would return to their villages without having received medical attention. We learned about the different medicines, listened to stories about their lives and living conditions. We became educated about the customs and taboos which we later used in our training courses for health agents and midwives.
We very much wanted to focus on this healing ministry although many of the priests and religious tried to talk us into evangelization. With the help of Bishop Murphy and Fr. Joe Stenger, we worked to make health care our pastoral ministry. Today the health ministry is flourishing in Bahia as well as in Brazil's Amazon valley.
When we left Bahia in 1986, we had trained 500 health care workers and 350 midwives for the seven parishes in the diocese. Many of these individuals have gone on for further education at nursing school and the university.
In the early days, we worked out of our house instead of the clinic at the school, working day and night with people literally falling at our doorstep with high fevers. There was an outbreak of typhoid fever followed by a meningitis epidemic.
When we took responsibility for The Children's Pastoral Program, we visited families, teaching them the basics, checking vaccination cards, weighing and charting. We also taught them how to make and use herbal medicines and enriching diets using leaves, seeds, peelings from banana and bran. Despite ongoing challenges, the people have kept it going. We truly feel they are now capable of taking our place.
An important thing I learned during my years in Brazil was that poverty
doesn't mean unhappiness. With the little that the Brazilian people have, they are among the happiest people in the world. They know how to share with one another their physical and spiritual goods. I have a great sense of what Church means and how my actions, my words, my omissions and sins have a great impact on the whole church.
There is a time to be reborn, a time to help people to be the best they can
be, and a time to let go and leave.
That time of letting go has arrived for us.
Victoria Ewers, FSM
In both Bahia and Amazonas, we three have been the "gypsies of the Prelacy" while traveling to the other parishes of Juazeiro Bahia to train community health workers (500) and mid-wives/mid-husbands (300) and to the parishes of Coari to train 30 coordenadores Paraquiais and 1,000 or more leaders of The Children's Pastoral Program. (Not all of these are still active.)
Not only have we chosen to "stand with our sisters and brothers who are poor and on the margins of society," we have striven to empower them, especially the women, by helping them:
- recognize their dignity as Children of God and members of the cosmos
- claim their basic rights of citizenship found in housing, food, education, health and well-being
- take responsibility for their own lives, their community and environment by realizing their talents and gifts and developing them for their own betterment and that of others
- serve as apostolic agents of change while promoting peace, justice and nonviolence
I came to "be the presence of the loving, serving, compassionate and
healing Jesus" and I have received so much more than I have given. I
have been evangelized more than I have evangelized. More and more I
realized that God was there before our coming. I have become aware of
the working of the Spirit among the people and in their culture, while
striving to help them recognize and proclaim the work of the Lord in
their midst and their participation in it. God walks before us and with
us and we with God - together we make history.
I don't leave Brazil so much with feelings of sadness but instead with feelings of gratitude. Leaving was difficult, as was returning home. But the same God who sent us to Brazil is also inviting us to come back; and the same grace of God that strengthened us to adapt to Brazil will stay with us as we continue to re-adapt at home.
Mary Stenger, FSM
I felt at home when I arrived in 1974, thanks to the hospitality offered by Srs. Jovita and Vicki. I had a very difficult time with the language and I remember Bishop Murphy writing to me and telling me I was like a newborn baby. I had to learn to talk, to walk and listen to others. While I was trying to learn the language, Srs. Jovita and Vicki took a 30-hour bus ride to come to visit me. I did not stay for the entire course because I just wasn't getting the language. It was the little children who gave me hope that one day I would learn the language. A little girl named Rose came every day to teach me and help me with words and conversation. So willing to help me, she became my best friend.
With help from our congregation, our families, friends and benefactors (especially Bucks for Brazil), we bought a Xerox machine and an electric stencil cutter. I ended up doing the finances for the church, the Prelacy, banking for the sisters in Beruri, Caaparinga and Anori. I was able to do all the printing for the church, their songs, materials for special celebrations and booklets used for courses in the different ministries. There was also plenty of printing to be done for The Children's Pastoral Program. This kept me very busy, yet I still had time just to listen to people, help them when I could and pray for them.
At a point when I needed to stay home more, I found the poor always there. A lot of times they just wanted to talk and knew they could come to the house at any time. I cared about them and became a good listener. I've had many happy times just clowning around with the children. I still need to do this. While at times I felt awkward, I knew I could make them laugh, and that would keep me feeling young!
I know that I can still help many people, if by only sharing with them a laugh and a big smile while letting them know they are loved and cared for.
On June 8, 2004, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary held an "Evening Prayer
of Transition and Welcome" for the returning sisters, led by Jacqueline
Motzel, FSM, president of the congregation. Here are Sr. Jacqueline's
words of welcome within the "Evening Prayer":
In our prayer this evening, we recognize a significant transition and sisterly welcome. The transition is three-fold: for Srs. Vicki, Jovita and Mary, who return home after three decades of ministry in Brazil; for the congregation, as we no longer have the presence of sisters in a country outside our own; and for the people in Brazil, who have lived, worked and worshiped with our sisters through the years. We remember in our prayer all those whose lives are being touched by this homecoming.
It was my privilege to be with Srs. Vicki, Jovita and Mary as they shared their final good-byes. We began in Sento Se - the first FSM mission in Brazil. We visited people in their homes, at their workplace, on the streets and in small groups. Frequently they displayed a photo of the sisters - near pictures of family and loved ones.
When the sisters first arrived in Sento Se, they began responding to the health needs of the people in a small clinic. Today, the city has its own hospital. The sisters also began to train local health care workers; and, today, many of those men and women serve in prominent positions at the hospital and within the city.
Farewells were replicated as we journeyed to Manacapuru, where we again greeted countless men, women and children - some of whom came by our house to visit. The ministry here was to develop The Children's Pastoral in the Prelacy of Coari. The Children's Pastoral is a national program throughout Brazil, focusing on women during pregnancy and children from birth to six years. It is held in the seven parishes of the prelacy or, we would say, diocese. The closest of these parishes to Manacapuru is eight hours by boat. The sisters did a lot of water traveling!
In recognition for their presence, commitment, and accomplishments, they were each made citizens during official ceremonies held in both Sento Se and Manacapuru.
A
Mass of Thanksgiving was also celebrated in both places, with many
gestures of appreciation exchanged. At the close of each Eucharistic
celebration, we gave a special blessing to the people.
Most apparent to me during this time was the genuine gratitude, love and respect the people have for our sisters. Truly, Srs. Vicki, Jovita and Mary have made a noticeable and notable difference in the lives of the people - young and old.
There is a quote from the Prophet Isaiah selected by the sisters to
be displayed on a banner celebrating the anniversary of their presence
in Brazil. It reads:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said, "send me."
And now, we welcome them home and gift them with some time to acclimate to a different culture and environment.
It has been said that unless you fully say good-bye, you cannot fully say hello. The closure rituals I experienced between the sisters and the people gave evidence of deep and meaningful relationships. Each hug, kiss, memory shared, prayer offered, meal enjoyed, gift exchanged attested to this truth. Their final good-byes are filled with good memories - it seems no stone was left unturned. Their hellos, still in the making, are like an unlimited view of the horizon, where grace is abundant, sisterly support ever present and where a faithful God hovers with loving care over their future.
Blessings to each of you - Jovita, Mary and Vicki. Welcome Home!