My life in a religious order has been full of action
August 24, 2014 12:00 AM
Nicholas D. Kristof’s Aug. 18 column “Sister Acts” resonated with me.
I have been a Sister of Divine Providence for 77 of my 93 years. I have been pleased to minister as a nurse and director of nursing in several of our hospitals. At age 60, I requested to work with a home health care agency in the Hill District. Even though I was mugged and suffered a wrist fracture, I loved working with the residents there. I left at age 73 when the agency decided I should have a gun-carrying “escort.”
I went to live with our sisters in Puerto Rico and worked as a volunteer home health care nurse among the poor. At age 85 I returned to Pittsburgh. I resumed running in the Great Race, which I had won several times in my age category. At age 88 there were only two of us in the women’s category age 80-plus who finished the race. I won.
I have witnessed many women and men whose dedication in actions of compassion and justice far outshine mine. The world needs more “acts of Gospel love” from committed individuals in and out of formal religious life. I encourage parents and others to speak to young women and men to pursue such a wholehearted witness.
SISTER DOROTHY ROTH
McCandless
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2014/08/24/My-life-in-a-religious-order-has-been-full-of-action/stories/201408240116#ixzz3BRRUFutj
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2014/08/18/Nicholas-D-Kristof-Nuns-are-the-real-superheroes-for-our-time/stories/201408180037
