by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
“We can,” James and John brashly pledge when Jesus asks if they can drink the cup he will drink in Sunday’s gospel. The pledge in Latin, possumus, is the motto of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
Many people said “we can” in the Civil Rights Movement. One of our sisters, Barbara Moore, said an unhesitating yes when her provincial leader asked her to join the delegation from Kansas City to march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, in March 1965.
State troopers and police had stopped a march the previous Sunday with clubs, tear gas, water hoses, and fierce dogs. Church leaders around the country mobilized delegations to march again. The photo of clergy and sisters marching has become iconic. The two sisters with white guimpes are Sisters of St. Joseph.
Third from the left, next to one of our sisters, is Sister Antone Ebo, a Franciscan Sister of Mary, revered for her response to a reporter asking why she was marching. “I’m here because I’m a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness,” she said. Her witness is part of the Catholic Church turning with the Second Vatican Council to the mission of transforming the life of the poor and afflicted on earth.
A nurse, administrator, chaplain, spiritual director, and pastoral associate over her 71 years as a Franciscan Sister of Mary, Sister Antone was the first African American woman to administer a hospital in the United States—St. Clare Hospital, Baraboo, Wisconsin. She died in 2017 at age 93.
At her funeral speakers recalled her counsel. “Continue to do more, to follow the Lord’s admonition to love one another, to remain in his love, to answer when we are called to speak up and speak out.”
“I believe in the dignity and equality of every person and that no person should be denied voting rights,” Sister Barbara says. “In the van ride from Montgomery to Selma I began to realize the danger of the situation. Caucasians were visible along the route in pickup trucks and on their porches with shotguns visible.”
The crowds, the singing, arms locked in solidarity, and the commitment not to retaliate left an indelible impression on Sister Barbara. She has returned to Selma often to renew her yes.
- What do you regularly do to support human equality?