Eastpointe — Sr. Constance Dodd, SM, was among the 30-some Marist Sisters who came from Ireland and England, beginning in 1956, to serve the Church in the United States.
More than a half-century later, she is serving as director of religious education at St. Barnabas Parish in Eastpointe.
Although she declined to give her age, Sr. Dodd acknowledged that it is beyond what most people consider a normal retirement age. She added, however, that she intends to keep right on working.
“I have no plans for retirement whatsoever, and I hope I will be able to walk into the casket,” she said with a flash of Irish wit.
Sr. Colleen Morris, SM, is among the Americans who felt a vocation to the Marist Sisters, went through the order’s novitiate in Ireland, and returned to serve in the U.S.
Now, she has a ministry to the sick and homebound of the parish, regularly visiting them and taking Communion.
Srs. Dodd and Morris are just two of many older vowed religious women and men who continue working in one way or another long beyond normal retirement age, as long as their health holds out. But many others suffer infirmities that no longer permit them to engage in active ministry, and some of those require expensive medical care.
The Marist Sisters are among the religious congregations that benefit from the Retirement Fund for Religious. The nationwide annual collection to support the fund is being taken in churches throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 11-12.
Many congregations of vowed religious made too little provision for the future needs of their members back when religious vocations were more plentiful, thinking there would always be enough younger members to support those who could no longer work. The decline in vocations, coupled with rising healthcare costs, has created a financial crisis for many communities.
While those Marist Sisters who are able continue to serve, there are others who are too infirm to carry on an active ministry, and some of those require 24-hour skilled nursing care.
“We were all young, very young when we came over, and some young Americans joined us, and so now we’re all old,” said Sr. Dodd, a native of County Sligo, Ireland.
She conceded that the community had not adequately provided for the costs associated with aging: “We were such a small group here, and so involved in ministry, we never thought we’d grow old.”
But Sr. Dodd said the grants from the Retirement Fund for Religious had enabled the Marist Sisters to outfit their house in Eastpointe adjacent to the St. Barnabas Parish grounds to serve as a handicapped-accessible retirement home for sisters and to pay for those sisters who have needed to be placed in nursing homes.
Sr. Dodd has been at St. Barnabas since August, and previously served in the Archdiocese of Detroit as principal at St. Albert the Great Elementary School in Dearborn Heights, from 1985 to ’89.
She has also taught in Hull, Quebec, and worked with the poor in Wheeling, W. Va.
Of her work at St. Barnabas, she said, “The children are delightful, and there is a tremendous hunger for God…We tend to turn to God in times of need more than in times of prosperity, and now is certainly a time of need.”
Sr. Morris, a native of St. Paul, Minn., became acquainted with the Marist Sisters on a visit to Ireland, and decided that, should she ever become a vowed religious, it would be as a member of that order.
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After about 10 years of a secular career as a nurse, she decided to take the plunge into religious life, and joined the congregation in Ireland. After making her vows, she came back across the Atlantic to serve in an orphanage in Edmondston, New Brunswick, and has since served in Detroit, Chicago and Wheeling, W.Va.
Her current ministry has, in a sense, brought her “full circle” back to her days as a nurse, Sr. Morris said, although the new ministry is “first and foremost a spiritual ministry.”
“We share our faith and share the Eucharist, and the elderly really share their life histories,” she said. “We pray for their families, the parish, and our Marist Sisters community.”
Sr. Evelyn Booms, IHM, local coordinator for the annual Collection for Retired Religious, said, “The response from the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit continues to be very generous, but the need is still vital.”
While most people will make their contributions at Mass next weekend, donations may also be sent by mail to: Collection for Retired Religious, c/o Archdiocese of Detroit, 1234 Washington Blvd., Detroit 48226.
