Sister Mary Caroline, Forgive Me

Sister Mary Caroline was my spiritual guide for a number of years.

The first time I went to a retreat with her, she washed the feet of the participants.  I knew she was something special.  Mary Caroline is a white female who is probably in her eighties now.  The participants of the retreat were black females. She is short and soft spoken.  She has taught me too many things to enumerate here.  She was the musician for the church.  I started teaching confirmation at her request and continued for a number of years at her request.  It got to the point that I wanted to run when I saw her coming because I knew she was going to ask me to do something and I could not refuse her anything. She encouraged me to fight for women in the church when the men complained about her doing the homily one week and month and she was no longer able to give her talk to the church.  She saw it as a lack of equality of the sexes in the church.  Only men can give a homily in the Catholic Church. I did not have an opinion at the time.  I had too many issues of my own. She eventually left the church because of it.  In the Presbyterian church, she could be a minister and teach and preach. I did not have the energy to fight this battle at that time.  Now I understand her position and her issue.  Dr. Martin Luther King said it best when he said, “If you see something and you have a duty to speak or should speak out and you remain silent, you cease to live. You begin to die a little each time you ignore a wrong and you should speak or act and do nothing.”  Sister Mary Caroline, I realize how much pain you felt when you were denied the right to do the homily and I should have joined in your fight.  The denial of your right was the denial of my right as well. Forgive me for not speaking or acting to protect your right.