December 2, marked the 30th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clark and lay missioner Jean Donovan.  On December 4, the Cleveland Ursulines marked the occasion by bestowing the Dorothy Kazel Alleluia Award on Sr. Judith Dohner, HM.  The Ursuline Sisters established the Dorothy Kazel Alleluia Award in 1983 to commemorate the life and service of Sr. Dorothy Kazel by honoring her conviction that a just world is possible through perseverance and struggle.  Sr. Judith's life reflects the "alleluia" joy and hope of Dorothy and manifests her optimistic and courageous spirit in actively working to attain justice.  The Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland recognize and salute Sr. Judith's heroism involved in her daily efforts and commend her for living Gospel values despite risk.

 

As a Sister of the Humility of Mary, I am deeply humbled this evening. I received an email in March or April inviting me to receive the Alleluia award. This was after the devastating earthquake in January. I was deeply touched because it was an award in honor of Dorothy Kazel. I am six years younger than Dorothy but she was also a friend of Eldon Reichert who was my spiritual director. And we were both from the Cleveland diocese. I didn’t understand all the fuss, I was only doing what was expected.

Fast forward to December 2010, 11 months later. Haiti now has experienced an earthquake, a rainy season, a cyclone, a cholera epidemic and political unrest. I reflect differently on the award and Dorothy’s life and death and my call to be with the people of Haiti.

Someone once said about the four Churchwomen, “Sadly we sometimes remember these women more for the way they died than the way they lived.”

Martyrdom is the culmination, the end point of a life of commitment. Dorothy’s life was an “alleluia” – joy-filled, contemplative, seeking truth and justice long before her violent death.

I am here tonight, hopefully, because by the grace of God and the blessings of my vocation as an HM Sister, I have been called to follow in the footsteps of Dorothy and so many others who have responded to God’s invitation to live among and be in solidarity with people who suffer because of poverty and injustice.

You can ask the people who know me. I don’t feel very “alleluia” these days. It is ADVENT in Haiti and the theme of light and darkness is very real to me. It is so dark in Haiti, but it is not totally dark. There is a spark of light in Haiti that comes from those of us who refuse to give up! It is Advent in Haiti as we await the coming and salvation of Jesus.

About a month before she died, Dorothy wrote about El Salvador and its people. What she said then can be said today – 30 years later – about Haiti:

“It is a country writhing in pain, a country that daily faces the loss of so many of its people and yet a country that is waiting, hoping, yearning for peace… there is a very vivid realization that Jesus is here with us.”

Religious women in the US Church today are talking about transformative religious life. I think this is what it means:

These four churchwomen and now all of us who choose to stand with the powerless, the impotent, who say “we don’t have the solutions, we don’t have the answers, but we will work with you, search with you, be with you. We will not abandon you.”

We will be transformed! We will have our lives taken from us, not necessarily by bullets or violence but by the Gospel proclaimed by these people. They are the ones who will transform us!

So, thank you for this honor. Pray for me and all of us who could not stand before so much darkness without the support of your prayers.