I'd
like to share a personal story
about my special friend Mary Rose.
In April of 2001, her life was
shattered by the loss of her husband,
Greg Rose, a wonderful compassionate,
and generous man. When he first
died, she felt nothing but the
void in her life. Then, with the
help of the mighty and gentle
Franciscan Sisters at Milwaukee's
Saint Ann Center, she began to
see that it wasn't a void, but
a doorway. The Sisters invited
Mary to accompany them to Bafut,
Cameroon, where they run a medical
center and home and Saint Joseph's
Girls Vocational High School.
She went...and her journey began!
In Bafut, she helped the Sisters
minister to the sick, handicapped,
and the students at Saint Joseph's.
She shared their food and sleeping
pallets, their dawns and dusks.
She recalls
the students going about their
tasks, singing joyously to face
economic adversity and despair.
Cameroon and Bafut represent an
agonizing litany of needs: better
education, better health, and
better standards of living for
women and children. Mary noted
how different we are, yet how
similar in the many things that
pull us daily onward despite hardship.
She brought the spirit of Bafut
with her when she returned home
and made fulfilling the needs
of Saint Joseph's her mission.
The Saint Ann Center has a not-for-profit
organization set up to benefit
Cameroon, and the Sisters invited
Mary to collaborate with them.
Through this partnership, they
found a way to fill the heart
that was so empty after losing
Greg.
Wherever
you are in your life's journey,
please join Mary on hers. Education
the girls at Saint Joseph's
is another way to heal the world's
voids.
Helping
her realize her mission,
Tina Smith
November 2005
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