BRISBANE Mercy Sister Mary de Lourdes Jarrett was recalled at her recent funeral Mass as “a tangible presence of God’s unconditional love” for her work with migrants and other marginalised people.
Sr de Lourdes, who died aged 85 at Emmaus Nursing Home, Nudgee, on May 4 in the 65th year of her religious profession, was often called “the heart and soul” of Woolloongabba’s Romero Centre which has ministered to refugees and asylum seekers since 2000.
Centre volunteer and former colleague Freddie Steen, after the funeral, said she would always remember the respect and affection refugees and asylum seekers had for Sr de Lourdes.
“Literally thousands of former refugees, now citizens, who fled in fear from Chile, Vietnam, El Salvador, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere were swept up in the warm welcome and genuine acceptance of this very special Sister of Mercy,” she said.
“‘I never forget you’, the men would say as they walked into the Romero Centre after years of absence to greet Sister de Lourdes.
“Out would tumble the thanks and the stories of the arrival by bus from Port Hedland and Woomera and later from Nauru, and of the suffering caused by the Temporary Protection Visa which made them cruelly ineligible to sponsor wife and children for many years.
“Remarkably, she usually remembered them, such were her social skills.”
Speaking at the Mass at St Vincent’s Chapel, Nudgee, on May 10, her fellow Sister of Mercy Pauline Smoothy described Sr de Lourdes as “loving, prayerful and resilient” and one who “threw herself into whatever she took on”.
“Of her vocation as a Sister of Mercy she wrote recently, ‘I felt called to be one since my early girlhood. The desire grew stronger with the years until one day … I kept an appointment with Reverend Mother Alban to discuss the possibility of entering the Sisters of Mercy’.”
Sr Pauline said the aspiring religious had received great encouragement and when asked what she would like to do, had replied: “I don’t care what I do … so long as I can become a nun.”
This “what to do” was to take many directions, starting with traing as a teacher.
Sr Pauline said Sr de Lourdes “became an outstanding and dedicated Infant School teacher”, teaching at various schools in and around Brisbane.
She was involved in various ministries around Inala including teaching religious classes in the many surrounding state schools, training catechists, visitations to the sick and needy, and assisting with a ministry to the deaf.
Sr de Lourdes also assisted Mercy Sister Mercedes Kirst in visiting Salvadorian families in Inala, Darra, Redbank Plains, Wacol and Goodna.
Ms Steen said Sr de Lourdes’ ability to engage with people “despite the barriers of language was phenomenal”.
“This was heart to heart – about religion, cultural practices, traditions, hope and sadness,” she said.
“They knew that de Lourdes’ God was their Allah, and most shared her faithfulness.
“It will be a lasting tribute to de Lourdes that the Romero Centre continues to advocate for asylum seekers and refugees and challenge policies which discriminate against them and treat them unjustly.”
Ms Steen said “de Lourdes worked for social justice in this life, advocating gently and effectively for individuals at the Housing Commission, at the dental clinic at 7am, the doctor’s surgery, with newborns and their mums, with the mentally sick in hospital and the sad and depressed in their cheap flats”.
“Those whose lives she touched are blessed,” she said.
Sr Pauline’s eulogy said the final words on Sr de Lourdes’ life were best left to José Zepeda who ministered with her to migrants and refugees as far back as her time in Inala.
“‘We remember her as a true sign of God’s love for humanity, since she was a tangible presence of God’s unconditional love for us’,” Sr Pauline reported Mr Zepeda as having said.
“‘Her life was a symbol of hope, care, concern and living faith … (she was) an authentic messenger of peace and inspiration to many’.”
