LEWISTON — Standing in the sanctuary of the Marcotte Chapel at St. Mary’s Residences in Lewiston, Bishop Robert Deeley spoke to the more than 60 women religious gathered on the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, held Feb. 2.

The event, instituted by Saint Pope John Paul II in 1997, coincides with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Deeley blessed candles for the women and sprinkled holy water on the assembly at the start of Mass.

The event, which included a luncheon, was organized by Prince of Peace Parish in Lewiston and St. Mary’s Health System and livestreamed to enable those unable to attend in person to join in the celebration.

Prior to the Mass and meal, some of the sisters offered witness talks about their lives and vocations, according to a news release from Dave Guthro, communications director, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Sister Carol Martin, was raised in Eagle Lake and was introduced to the Franciscan sisters when her mother began working at Northern Maine General Hospital in Eagle Lake, which the sisters operated. She has served in hospital ministry, as a nutritionist for WIC and Head Start, and at many parishes in pastoral work, including her current role as faith formation coordinator for St. Francis Xavier Church in Winthrop, part of St. Michael Parish.

Sister Patricia Pora served as director of the Diocese of Portland’s Office of Hispanic Ministry for over 15 years, starting in 2005. While growing up in Chile, where her astrophysicist father worked for the Smithsonian, Sister Patricia, a Protestant, attended Mass with her Catholic friends and converted to Catholicism in her early teens. At 16, she came to Maine to finish high school.

Pora first met the Sisters of Mercy when her host family took her for piano lessons to a sister at the Portland convent. She joined the order after she graduated. Sister Patricia has served as a teacher and in hospital ministry as well as spending nearly a dozen years in Peru, ministering with indigenous people in 94 villages, some of which were 14 hours away by mule. Upon returning to Maine, Sister Patricia worked part time at Mercy Hospital while discerning her next ministry.

As word spread that the sister who understood Hispanic culture and spoke Spanish was back, she started getting requests for both spiritual and practical help. She soon saw a need and convinced the bishop to start a Hispanic ministry by showing him a census with the growing numbers of Maine’s Hispanic people.

“Hispanic ministry is a ministry of accompaniment,” Sister Patricia told those gathered. “It is a ministry of simply ‘walking with.’ I am grateful to still serve as a volunteer. There are still many things that can be done.”

 

 

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