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Thursday, September 14, 2000
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The Southern Cross, Page
CNS illustration by Lillo Dellino courtesy of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ
Five midwestem martyrs of charity
By Stan Konieczny
Catholic News Service
tyrs of Charity’ is a collec
tive title popularly given to five Adorers
of the Blood of Christ from
south-central Illinois who were slain in
1992 as they ministered with the people
of Liberia during the civil war in that
west African country.
Although they easily could have
joined the refugees streaming out of
Liberia, these women religious chose to
stay with the people. The day before
they died the five stood on the roadside
and gave water to passing refugees.
On Oct. 20, 1992, Sisters Barbara
Ann Muttra and Mary Joel Kolmer
were ambushed and killed while on a
sick call. Sisters Shirley Kolmer, Agnes
Mueller and Kathleen McGuire were shot
to death three days later outside their
convent at Gardnersville where they long
had offered hospitality and kindness to
people in all walks of life.
The long-term veteran of this mis
sion team was Sister Muttra, who
served in Liberia for 21 years. Bom in
Springfield, Ill., she was trained as a
nurse. Arriving in Liberia in 1971, she
had a tremendous impact on health
care in the bush.
Sister Muttra challenged traditional
practices and significantly improved
infant survival rates. Under her influ
ence, local infant-mortality rates
dropped from two deaths per week to
two deaths per year.
This sister’s healing skills also were
affirmed by those she cared for —
people suffering from cholera and ma
laria as well as from life-threatening
injuries. Her devotion earned her the
affectionate nickname of “Old Ma” from
the people.
A college professor and mathemati
cian, Sister Shirley Kolmer began her
Liberian service in 1977 as a
Fullbright Scholar at the University of
Liberia. The native of Waterloo, HI., in
terrupted her educational ministry in Af
rica to serve as provincial superior of the
Adorers at Ruma, HI. She returned to
Liberia after completing her
leadership responsibilities
Sister Kolmer began
teaching at the sec
ondary level to help
improve the aca- •;
demic basis of
budding scholars.
Eventually she
became the first
woman principal
of the all-boys St.
Patrick High ^
School. She even '
wrote a textbook to
help her students
more readily under- ^
stand math.
Her cousin, Sister
Mary Joel Kolmer, is remem- ^irley kolmer
bered for her artistic talents and flair
as well as her abiding joy and zest for
life. A11 these traits served her well as
she ministered with the Liberian
people in religious education after 25
years in elementary education in Iowa
and Illinois. She planned liturgies,
worked with youth, and visited the sick
and elderly in their homes.
Having been trained in edu-
- ’ i % cation and nursing, Sister
%
- m
to empower women by sharing the gift
of reading.
The newcomer to the Adorers’
Liberian mission, Sister McGuire,
served 14 months at Gardnersville. She
provided support services for the other
sisters and promoted the local church’s
mam aaaamaaai
Although they easily could have joined the
refugees streaming out of Liberia, these women
religious chose to stay with the people.”
/ A
r • 4- when
/ in 1987.
Mueller brought
a special versatil
ity to the Adorers’
Liberian missions
she arrived
Her arrival
in Africa fulfilled a
^ life-long dream to be a
missionary. Sister MueHer
was involved in pastoral care,
vocation work and literacy programs.
Teaching women to read seemed like
a natural ministry for Sister Mueller,
who loved books. She sought tirelessly
efforts at reconciliation in a society torn
by civil strife. Most important, she
stood with the suffering people of
Liberia.
“I don’t blame anyone for Kay’s
death; I am not angry,” said her
mother, Mrs. Pauline McGuire of
Ridgway, Ill. “But the hurt is always
there.... I feel closest to Kay now, in the
evenings when I pray.”
(Konieczny is Director of Communi
cations for the Adorers of the Blood of
Christ, Ruma, III.)
FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE
How — under what circumstances — can ordinary people resemble the martyrs in “giving their lives” today?
“Generally, I think that people are too materialistic today. There are some people who are willing to give their lives totally to
their children and to their families, but I would say that they are in the minority.” — David Earls, Erie, Pa.
“When I teach, I ask the very same question: Who can we think of today who go out on a limb to free the oppressed? Often
people respond with teachers, doctors, lay ministers. Sometimes the common acts of faith, hope and love are not recognized on
the scale of Mother Teresa, Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr., yet I know that the Lord recognizes all such acts of liberation.” —
Deborah Harris, Fairbanks, Alaska
“When we remember departed souls in the Eucharistic prayers, the priest says, ‘In baptism he/she died in Christ.’ Anyone
who truly tries to be a follower of Jesus sacrifices his/her life; it is not easy to be a Christian in today’s world.” — Irina Clark,
Schenectady, NY
An upcoming edition asks: Tell of a time when the meaning of a sacrament, of God, of commitment or of justice was
illuminated for you. If you would like to respond for possible publication, please write: Faith Alive! 3211 Fourth St. N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20017-1100.
Faith witnesses united in the blood of Christ
By Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC
Catholic News Service
It Pope John Paul II in 1994
announced plans for the Jubilee Year
2000, many Catholics were surprised
at the emphasis he placed on the unity
of the church and its social mission,
since jubilees traditionally had been
times of personal and individual pil
grimage, and indulgences.
His extension of this ecumenical
theme to reflection on the common wit
ness given by those who die for the faith
is still a new way of looking at those
who have given their lives for Christ,
even when the churches are yet di
vided.
“The local churches should do every
thing possible to ensure that the
memory of those who have suffered
martyrdom should be safeguarded,
gathering the necessary documenta
tion,” the pope wrote at that time
CTertio Millennio Adveniente, No. 37).
He said: “This gesture cannot fail to
have an ecumenical character and ex
pression. Perhaps the most convincing
form of ecumenism is the ecumenism of
the saints and of the martyrs.”
To this end, dioceses around the
world have listed and sent to Rome
names of those, Catholic and fellow
Christian, who witnessed to the faith to
their death in the name of Christ.
Many dioceses will have ecumenical
services celebrating these Christians,
joined in heaven even while we are still
striving for that unity for which Christ
prayed.
Of course, the Catholic Church has
developed a juridical and centralized
process for designating certain persons
“saints” and “martyrs.” But when the
pope commemorates contemporary wit
nesses of faith in the Colosseum in
May, and parishes and dioceses around
the world join him, names will be re
called of many others who witnessed to
faith by their death in all comers of the
globe.
It will be important to use this sa
cred moment to listen to the stories
other Christians tell about their mar
tyrs and to be inspired by their wit
nesses and the stories of their faith in
the face of adversity. When the pope
visited Slovakia to canonize martyrs of
the Thirty Years War, he also visited
shrines of some recognized as Protes
tant martyrs, who had died at the
hands of Catholics. Some of these sto
ries will be painful, but possibly a great
source of healing.
In his 1995 encyclical on
ecumenism, titled Ut llnum Sint,
Pope John Paul began: “The coura
geous witness of so many martyrs of
our century, including members of
churches and ecclesial communities
not in full communion with the Catho
lic Church, gives new vigor to the [call
for Christian unity made by the Second
Vatican Council]....
“These brothers and sisters of ours,
united in the selfless offering of their
lives for the kingdom of God, are the
most powerful proof that every factor of
division can be transcended and over
come in the total gift of self for the sake
of the Gospel” (No. 1).
(Brother Gros is the associate direc
tor of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Af
fairs.)
All contents copyright © 2000 by CNS
lna Nutshell
Martyrdom is not a phenomenon only of the distant past.
Today, as in the church’s early centuries, martyrdom is a
seed from which the church grows.
Martyrs help us recall that certain truths are so
fundamental that they may need to he defended even to the
death.
Martyrs and witnesses of the faith serve as a jubilee-year
reminder of the universal call to holiness.