Today we lost another great Maryknoll Sister, Janice McLaughlin, 79, former President of the Congregation. Her mission vocation was stimulated by pictures of giraffes in National Geographic, and she somehow knew that Africa would be her destiny. After work in Kenya, she moved to
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Rhodesia to serve as press secretary for the Rhodesian Justice and Peace Commission. It was during the struggle against the white-minority gov't of Ian Smith. She was arrested in Aug '77, held in solitary, and charged as a Communist subversive. Jail was her "novitiate."
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"I felt part of something bigger than myself. I felt bigger than myself. I was suffering for a cause and the pain and fear no longer mattered. I was not alone. I was with the oppressed people, and God was there with us in our prison cells." Eventually, she was exiled.
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She returned to Africa to work with refugees in the forests of Mozambique. After the liberation of Zimbabwe she returned to help restore the educational system. Sadly, she lived to see the promise of liberation give way to the despotism of the Mugabe regime. After her term as
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president of the MK Sisters, she wrote "Ostriches, Dung Beatles, and Other Spiritual Masters: Wisdom from the Wild" (@OrbisBooks), in which she reflected on spiritual lessons derived from animals she observed in Africa--the flexibility of the giraffe, the humility of the hippo,
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the generosity of the baboon. From the Shona people she learned a name for God: The One Who Turns Things Upside Down. Africa remained always in her soul: "I am a wiser, gentler, more outgoing, more religious, and freer person because of Africa." Goodbye, my friend. Safe travels.
Mar 7, 2021 · 2:20 PM UTC
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