 |
Celebrating 25 Years of Pastoral Work in Alaska The work of Sister Joan Barina in Kenai, Alaska, is one of the hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. Medical Mission Sister Joan Barina and Sister Joyce Ross, a Sister of Mercy, were the first Roman Catholic nuns to work on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. In 1979, at the request of Archbishop Francis Hurley, the two Sisters began working in religious education in 4 peninsula communities, learning about the area and its people through their travels. In 1988, Sister Joan was named Pastoral Associate of Our Lady of the Angels parish in Kenai, Alaska, and Sister Joyce was made Pastoral Administrator.
As Pastoral Associate, Sister Joan helps with sacramental preparation, RCIA programs, and catechetical work with both adults and children. She also facilitates a Scripture study group for prisoners in a minimum-security facility. Since the Kenai parish is without a resident priest, she, Sister Joyce, and others in the parish share duties as lay presiders. Most of the year, the parish of 170 families has Mass twice a month on the weekends with a "circuit" priest. Sister Joan, a medical technician who served in India, finds that her medical experience is useful to the sick and their families. Her outreach includes visiting the sick who are homebound and in the hospital; responding to emergency needs for food, clothing, transportation, medications, rent, and heating; and the upkeep of the church buildings.
"The most time-consuming and important aspect of our ministry is being there for people," Sister Joan shares. "Scripture study provides a rich opportunity to touch people in a deeply spiritual way ... over time we have seen real growth of understanding and tolerance, love and care for each other." The parishioners financially and spiritually support the HIV/AIDS work of Sister Gill Horsfield's parish in Korogocho, a slum area of Nairobi, Kenya. Celebrating 25 years of service in Kenai, Sister Joan says, "Our position in the parish gives us the opportunity to be for our women and men, the compassion and love
of God, and to help effect the changes of heart and mind needed to bring about
a truly catholic Church."
home
|
|
|
||||||||
