‘Siren call of the Sisters’
By By Anita McSorley
Leaven Associate Editor
Superior’s courage and new technology permit The Leaven to tell the Sisters’ story in a new way
KCK natives like Father Mark and myself can hardly remember a time when we didn’t know of the Sisters, Servants of Mary.
The Sisters’ summer social represented the beginning of summer vacation to Father Mark as a boy, and his own vocation was influenced by the Sisters’ care of his grandmother.
I, on the other hand, heard the siren call of the Sisters as a teenager at Bishop Ward.
For those of you not familiar with the area, the Sisters’ convent lies immediately north of the high school.
So sometimes, on a warm day, students walking to their rides would be startled by sudden peals of laughter emanating from the other side of the high convent walls.
It was the Sisters, Servants of Mary playing volleyball.
Behind their convent walls.
Where we could not see.
How intriguing/annoying was that?
I’ve been fascinated by the Sisters ever since. So when Mary Sullivan contacted me this spring about a story on the Sisters’ upcoming gala, I hoped and prayed that this story could be different — that this time, the local superior would recognize the benefit of a story on the Sisters told from the inside.
For readers unfamiliar with the Sisters, I should say right now that this was the tricky bit. The Sisters are intensely private and notoriously modest. All attempts at promoting them in a big way in the past have come to naught. (Folks who work solely for the glory of God are a media outlet’s dream; we, on the other hand, are their nightmare.)
Moreover, the Sisters are semi- cloistered. That means that if Mother Carmela Sanz permitted my photographer Elaina Generally inside her convent’s walls, Elaina could not only photograph things that had never been photographed before, she could actually photograph things that had never even been seen before by an outsider.
How cool was that?
Fortunately, Mary recognized a fellow dreamer when she saw one, and used her considerable influence to talk Mother Carmela into making an incredibly brave decision: To let The Leaven in.
But Mary had a dream of her own.
As you’ll read in later pages, the Sisters charge no fees for their nursing — they depend entirely on the generosity of others. But the fundraisers that Mary and the Sisters’ many other supporters had been organizing for years have grown insufficient to sustain the Sisters’ operations each year.
More worrisome still is the fact that a large number of the Sisters’ supporters are joining an aging population and may not be in a position to continue their level of support indefinitely.
In short, the Sisters, Servants of Mary needed help, and Mary and her committee of gala-planners were trying to ride to their rescue. Toward that end, each and every one of the 23, said Mary, contributed an essential piece to what is bound to be an historic event. The theme, “Serving from the Heart,” she continued, is as true of her committee members as it is of the Sisters.
But touching the hearts of a new generation of potential supporters is a tall order. So The Leaven staff decided to try something new as well: We would tell the story of the Sisters, Servants of Mary in a different way.
That’s why, in addition to this special issue featuring Elaina’s world-class photography, you will find on our Web site — www.theleaven.com — a three-minute video on the work of the Sisters, Servants of Mary.
If you like the video, all we ask is that you forward the link to your friends.
If, on the other hand, you like the way the Sisters make you feel about being Catholic — well, you’ll know what to do.
Anita McSorley is the managing editor of The Leaven.