Ethiopia revisited

Serving God and humanity

Coincidentally, while working on Lux Dominum, in which I verbalized some of my thoughts about religion, I received a letter from my very dear friend, Sister Mary James, a Good Shepherd nun. She is a peerless and supremely dedicated social worker. I was privileged to work with her while I served as the Clinical Director at St. Germaine’s in Peekskill and Madonna Heights in Huntington, New York.

For a number of years, now, Sister James has totally associated herself with the Good Shepherd Mission in Ethiopia, a region of Africa that suffers from interminable wars, famine, pestilence and lawlessness. She and several other Good Shepherd sisters from Ireland are now deeply immersed in the travail of this forsaken land. Like the little Dutch boy who stuck his finger in the dike to keep his country from being flooded, these nuns too, are doing everything possible to stem the rising tide of unabated suffering in Ethiopia.

The alleviation of suffering everywhere should be the prime dynamic force of all humankind. It is primarily in helping each other where our core religious energy should increasingly and unceasingly flow. But for Caritas Mundi to be a reality, we must feel ourselves to be an integral part of creation. Just in case we’re not sure, let us at least be thankful that there are always some among us who do actually devote their lives in the true service of God and humanity. And our saintly Sister James, is most assuredly one of them.

The Mission's Address:
Good Shepherd Sisters, P.O. Box 6558, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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