Profoundly Invisible – Sisters of Charity Outreach Team

Sister Maureen Lynch is a counsellor at Pine Street Inn, Boston, MA. Sister Maureen writes about her first hand experience of what the outreach team does on a nightly basis. This article was originally published in America, a national Catholic weekly magazine for thinking Catholics and those who want to know what Catholics are thinking.The night is beautiful—magnificent, really, when you let it into your soul. I drink in the beauty: a star-studded sky, clear, crisp air, night lights flickering here and there in the quiet, and a crescent moon. As we slowly wend our way, we turn onto Commonwealth Avenue. I can feel the touch of something powerful in the air. Maybe it’s the excitement, the curiosity of my first trip with part of the outreach team. This night it is Bruce, a big man, street-wise, sure of himself, and Sean a quiet, gentle guy of few words—both committed to this nightly trip. Daily my in-house e-mails at the women’s unit, where I’ve been working now for over a year, spurt out names—Ed, Mike, Carlos, Kasia, Gypsy, Matt, Sandra, John and others. For some time now I have wanted to know firsthand what the team does nightly. I have wanted to put faces to the names of these people, most of whom I have not met. For entire story see
http://www.schalifax.ca/pages/CA_apr-invisible.html