No greater love: the death of a nun and activist reminds us that the gospel is a cause worth living for.I WANT TO BE LIKE SISTER DOROTHY. Dorothy Stang Dorothy Mae Stang (June 14, 1940–February 12, 2005) was an American-born, Brazilian sister of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur order, who was murdered in Anapu, a city in the state of Pará, in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. , a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is the name of a Roman Catholic order of religious sisters, dedicated to providing education to the poor. The Sisters now have foundations in five continents and in 20 countries. Foundation Founded in 1804 at Amiens, France, by St. , was killed on Feb. 12, 2005, by two unknown gunmen. She had spent years in Brazil resisting efforts to clear the Amazon, working on sustainable development Sustainable development is a socio-ecological process characterized by the fulfilment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment indefinitely. The linkage between environment and development was globally recognized in 1980, when the International Union projects with poor farmers against powerful interests. And she was evidently good at it. Sister Dorothy was 73 when they killed her--73! And I have to wonder: What in this religious woman, this spiritual mother and grandmother, this sister to the poor and dispossessed, was so threatening that someone had to execute her? What about her merited such deadly attention? She looked like so many other 73-year-old religious women: unassuming, hardly fashionable, barely distinguishable from the poor among whom she lived, yet with a twinkle in her eye, a bright smile, and a youthful face that hid her years. Still, there was probably little about her that would draw our notice, like the suffering servant of whom Isaiah spoke, a prophecy again fulfilled in Sister Dorothy's broken body as it lay lifeless on a dirt road dirt road n (US) → camino sin firme dirt road n → chemin non macadamisé or non revêtu dirt road dirt n . But like Lady Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs she spoke with insight, with truth, and put her words into action. Her work frightened some people, threatened them terribly. They didn't just kill her; two men shot her six times in the face and chest, at point-blank range the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged. See also: Point-blank ! What about her required that she not only be killed but destroyed? I think I know. I think she let God's grace shine through her so much that the reign of God was threatening to break through, that the poor were going to have good news proclaimed to them, that the oppressed op·press tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny. 2. were going to go free. In her, God was going to cast down the proud and lift up the lowly, just as Mary promised in her gospel song. The dawn from on high was threatening to break upon some backwater in Brazil. And the kingdom of this world just couldn't allow that, just couldn't permit a single victory for God. It's a slippery slope 'slippery slope' Medical ethics An ethical continuum or 'slope,' the impact of which has been incompletely explored, and which itself raises moral questions that are even more on the ethical 'edge' than the original issue , after all. One prisoner goes free, and pretty soon all of them will want to. She isn't the first martyr for the cause, of course, and she won't be the last. On the day of her murder a local ranch worker, Claudio Bronco bronco: see mustang. , was executed in front of his wife and five children. Indeed, Sister Dorothy has many sisters and brothers: four other American women--Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, laywoman lay·wom·an n. 1. A woman who is not a cleric. 2. A woman who is a nonprofessional: "[a program] Jean Donovan--raped and killed in El Salvador in 1980 because of their work with the poor; a housekeeper and her daughter--Elba and Maricet Ramos--killed nearly 10 years later because they worked for the wrong Jesuits, six of whom were killed with them; thousands of others, their names forgotten or never known, parents and grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl ground down with their children by injustice of every sort, Jesus' band of the forgotten and forsaken--the ones who stood by his cross, the ones who always end up sharing it. SOMETIMES I GET DISCOURAGED by our church, by our hunger for prestige and power, our refusal to step into the future, our insistence that we're right and everyone else is wrong. Sometimes, in my comfort and safety, I'm ready to quit. And then comes Sister Dorothy: prophet and apostle, announcing God's reign, bold in her witness, courageous in her death, reminding me of the gospel's power--a message so strong it's worth dying for. How I wish I could be like her. It's a wish I dare not speak; I'm too afraid of death, of pain, of the cross, of the men who killed her. They're too powerful. They don't follow the rules, and they always seem to win. They have the guns, after all, and the money. But Sister Dorothy had power, too. She scared them, terrified ter·ri·fy tr.v. ter·ri·fied, ter·ri·fy·ing, ter·ri·fies 1. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten. 2. To menace or threaten; intimidate. them with the Good News. And she won. Her killers had to step out into the open, show their hand, reveal their injustice and cruelty. They testified for her, proved her truth. And her witness is even more powerful in death than in life. I want to be like Sister Dorothy, even though it scares me to death. But I mean it, and I'll pray it: God, make me like Sister Dorothy. BRYAN CONES, an assistant editor of U.S. CATHOLIC. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion