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Called and inspired by the Gospels some 50 years ago, Sisters Moira Hurley, Mildred Payne, and blood sisters Joan and Mary Malherek sacrificed the culture and comfort of their U.S. homeland to serve the poor and oppressed abroad.
Their mission has taken them all over the Americas: from the East Coast to the West; to Chile, Bolivia and Peru in South America; and through harrowing times in Central America, particularly during the civil war in Guatemala, when members of the Church were persecuted and even killed for siding with the poor.
The Maryknoll Sisters initially came to Oaxaca to organize ecclesiastical base Christian communities in a parish on the west side of the city. They did that and more, establishing a medical clinic, a chapel, a credit union and a social work center. They have worked as teachers, nurses, social workers and pastoral agents. They have served as ambassadors of kindness and goodwill at a time when the U.S. support of oppressive governments in the region was generating scorn and resentment.
"I realized I was working with the most conscientious people in the world," says Sister Mary, looking back on her career with her fellow Maryknoll Sisters.
Before leaving, the Sisters are putting things in order.
Sister Moira is making sure staff is hired and supplies purchased at the new four-bed maternity clinic opened in January. While the social service center, Casa Guelaguetza, will be closed, the Sisters are working with families to ensure they have access to a local food bank, clinics and a new national health program.
Sister Joan and Sister Millie are taking special care to help Yolanda, a single mother with handicapped twin 5-year-old boys. They have found the family a place to live near a government organization that will help Yolanda with child care and therapy for the boys.
"We're finishing our work here," says Sister Millie, "but we're not finishing our mission—our vocation. We'll take it with us wherever we go."
They also know the legacy of their work will remain, in the lives they have helped and in the work that others will continue. Among those who will perpetuate the work of the Sisters are five Maryknoll Lay Mission families serving in Oaxaca.
Read the rest of the story only in the pages of Maryknoll magazine.
Help support Maryknoll in its work with the world's most vulnerable.
mklmag@maryknoll.org
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Sisters Mary, Joan, Mildred and Moira (l. to r.) say goodbye to mission in southern Mexico.
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Sister Mary holds 2-day-old neighbor Patricia, Sister Joan calms Angel, 5, who is deaf and blind, Sister Moira and Dr. Fernando Garcia Badillo check Severa Ramírez for respiratory problem, Sister Mildred comforts Cesar, who is spastic.
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