The Marthas collaborate with TRI-Heart to welcome Syrian refugee family
Posted by SC Federation on December 17, 2015
The Sisters of St. Martha of Antigonish in Nova Scotia, Canada are responding to Pope Francis’ call to care for refugees in a very real and tangible way. The Marthas are collaborating with the TRI-Heart Society to bring a privately-sponsored family of Syrian refugees to live in their 87-year-old convent, a home that 106 Martha sisters have lived in over the years. The family is set to arrive in a few short weeks. Read an excerpt from Canadian Free Press reporter Michael MacDonald below:(or read the full article here)
The old convent in rural St. Andrews, N.S., had been for sale for more than a year when the Sisters of St. Martha concluded that fate or something more powerful was telling them the big, empty home had a higher purpose.
In September, within a few weeks of Pope Francis urging more parishes to take in Syrian refugees, the nuns had turned their attention to making the house available when a call came from a local group thinking the same thing.
“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be sold,” says Sister Brendalee Boisvert, the order’s congregation leader. “Maybe this was always in the mind and heart of the Holy Spirit — that we would always have a family enjoy this home that we enjoyed for 87 years.”
With the help of the religious order, volunteers with the TRI-Heart Society are now preparing for the arrival of a privately sponsored Syrian family of six who have been living in a camp in Lebanon…
See the full story on the Winnipeg Free Press website here.
What a gracious response to need, in the gracious spirit of hospitality which is one of the profound ways that the Marthas live the charism of Charity! Thanks to our Sisters in Canada, and the Canadian people and government, for breaking down barriers and welcoming Syrian refugees. May we in the U.S. find ways to follow their lead!