Published April 25, 2003
Daughters of Charity may place sisters in Magadan
In addition to poverty, chastity and obedience, the Daughters of Charity take a fourth vow of service to the poor. This special charism might soon be extended to Far Eastern Russia in the form of a Daughters of Charity community in Magadan that would operate through Nativity of Jesus Parish there.
Two Daughters of Charity visited Magadan April 4-11 with retired Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley to explore that possibility. Sister Jean Marie Williams of Anchorage and Sister Margaret Keaveney of Los Altos Hills, Calif., head of the order’s Western Province, traveled to the city on Russia’s east coast to gauge the needs of the people and assess the prospect of such a commitment. Sister Williams works in the Anchorage Archdiocese’s Russian Desk office, which helps coordinate the Magadan mission.
Sister Keaveney departed Anchorage prior to the reporting of this story, but Sister Williams relayed the provincial’s optimism about the possibility of sending a group of sisters to Magadan. "The spirit is moving us in this direction but it’s not a done deal," Sister Williams said.
The Daughters of Charity community would organize social outreach through the Nativity of Jesus Parish’s unfinished "Mercy Center" in the lower level of the newly built church. For now the parish’s Father Michael Shields and Father David Means personally aid abuse victims, survivors of Stalin’s slave labor camps, single mothers, poverty-stricken individuals and others as they can.
Before the Daughters will be able to set up in Magadan, the Western Province must present the idea, along with letters of invite from church officials in Russia and Anchorage, to the order’s new superioress general in Paris, who will be elected in June.
Sister Keaveney will communicate with other provincials in hopes that more sisters will want to join the Magadan community. Ideally four sisters would take the assignment.
Sister Williams said that the outreach work in Magadan and the order’s charism of service to the poor would be a "perfect fit."
She said it was clear from her brief visit that the needs are immense in Magadan, with its high rates of alcoholism, broken families and unemployment.
"Dysfunction hardly begins to explain what effect this loss of hope" has on the people, she said.
Sister Williams said she saw rows and rows of dilapidated apartment buildings all around the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in downtown Magadan. She said she envisions visiting people in the area, getting to know them and discerning what their needs are.
"God knows there are poor there," she said, "and everybody has a story."
In Ola, a town an hour outside of Magadan where Father Means regularly celebrates Mass in a small apartment, women were excited about the prospect of the sisters coming, saying they need to "talk to other women about things we can’t talk with priests about."
The idea of opening a Daughters of Charity community in Russia has been in the works since about 1989. It was then that Archbishop Hurley told a visiting member of the order about the archdiocese’s Magadan mission. The sister expressed interest in the project and speculated that the Daughters should have a presence in Russia.
"I gobbled it up and said, ‘Let’s go,’ " Archbishop Hurley recalled. "Are there any more like you at home?"
The archbishop said the two priests in Magadan have nurtured a strong spiritual atmosphere in the parish and are ready to pass on the parish’s social service aspect to people with expertise in outreach.
The Daughters of Charity have embraced their special ministry to the poor since 1633, when most women religious were still cloistered. Now the order operates a health system, social service agencies and senior citizen programs with a worldwide presence. The Daughters of Charity have been active in Anchorage for four years.
Sister Williams has a bachelor’s degree in Russian language and experience ministering to the elderly. Another Daughter of Charity and Russian-speaker, Sister Maria Stec, is expected to arrive in Anchorage this month to be part of the community in Magadan if it becomes a reality.
"The spirit is palpable" in Magadan, Sister Williams said. "We’re coming to give that spirit words and wings."
She’s already scheduled her next visit to Magadan, in June.