Due North
Meet Sister Susan Kerrigan and Sister Jude Stradiotto,
Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton
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Sister Susan Kerrigan
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Sister Jude Stradiotto
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As a Sister of St. Joseph, you never know where God might
lead you.
"Look at me, I’m 65 years old and starting a whole
new career," said Sister Jude, two years ago. "I
think God opens us to experiences and uses them."
As a trained nurse, her own experience with a group home
for recovering alcoholics in Guelph and with those with mental
and physical addictions is being put to good use.
It all started in 1999, when she and Sister Susan, also
a nurse, took a vacation trip north to visit two other Sisters
of the Hamilton Community. First in Geraldton they spent time
with Sister Sheila and later they traveled on to Red Lake
where Sister Rose was a parish administrator.
Introduction to Native Ministry
On the holiday, the pair were introduced to native ministry
and began to take an interest in the situation of Canada’s
aboriginal peoples. "We heard a call from God and we
remembered the CSJ charism, to go where the need is greatest,"
said Sister Jude. "So we started to read and learn, and
we developed a deep respect for Canada’s original people."
Instead of responding to a summons, as they normally would
have done, the Sisters approached northern bishops and asked
them if there were needs that the two could meet? Soon they
found themselves meeting with native leaders in Pic Mobert,
1000 kilometres away, north of Lake Superior, and found that
there was a great deal they could do for this tiny, isolated
village of 300 people.
"It’s a community with a lot of pain due to loss
of identity, alcoholism and, loss of land," says Sister
Susan. "It leads to illness, as well as abuse."
The community has only dirt roads. A doctor visits every
two weeks but hospitals are far away. When someone is ill,
there’s a van that can take them to medical appointments
in larger centres. The closest is White River, a town of 1000
people. There is no place for the community to gather and
little work. Some residents have small businesses, others
work in the gold mines some distance away or in the saw mill
in White River.
Women who want to Help
The Sisters went, not as experts or counselors, but simply,
says Sister Susan, "as two women who want to help out
any way we can, to be on life’s journey with them."
They started by visiting the elders out of respect. Then they
visited the school and offered to help the teachers in any
way they could. They opened a foot clinic (diabetes is common)
where they offer support and can talk, one on one, with people.
And because the small community of 300 has no priest, they
often help to run Sunday services. "We won’t do
it ourselves," explains Sister Susan. "We want to
empower them to take charge."
The two Sisters are regarded as unusual nuns, mainly because
they wear no habits and seem reluctant to run things preferring
to help the community to do the work they feel needs to be
done.
They have been in the community since May, 2001. That July,
a new chief and council were elected. They meet monthly with
the council to discuss what is working well and what still
needs to be done. Their mandate says Sister Jude, is to visit
the elders, and those who are sick and lonely or in hospital.
It is also to operate the foot care clinic. And they try to
encourage volunteerism, which was part of native life in the
past. Part of this is empowering spiritual leaders within
the community to run the services and prepare children for
the sacraments (a priest comes once a month only for Mass).
The Gift of Native Culture
It’s a busy life but the two Sisters embrace the challenge.
"I’m meeting God, our Creator, through the beauty
of the land and the people and the animals around us,"
says Sister Jude. "I used to sit outside and read the
scriptures. Now I sit outside and listen to the loon calling.
We’re learning to live a balanced, profound life in harmony
with God."
Sister Susan adds, "We have a real genuine love for
the people. And we already have a sense of belonging and acceptance.
Native people love to tease. You know you’re accepted
if they tease you or give you fish. We have a freezer full
of fish."
The two have also developed a respect for native culture
and look forward to taking part native gatherings and powwows.
People come from long distances for the powwow and set up
camp in the wilderness together and live off the land. It’s
a sacred time with no drinking or drugs. The Sisters have
been invited to take part, a signal honour and one they’re
excited and a little apprehensive about. "They’ll
have to help us or we’ll starve," laughs Sister
Jude.
Sister Susan sums up their experience, "We have gained
so much through the people and their closeness to the earth,
their honesty, their trust – so many gifts to us. We
give what we can in return."
No, you never know where God will lead you and what joy
will come from the experience.
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