The saint next door; serving in the heart of the pandemic

You know that feeling when it’s just easier to do something than not do it?”

For most of us, that probably means everything from completing a mundane chore to answering an email.

For Theresa McFall, that was the simple explanation for why she volunteered her nursing skills at one of the nation’s COVID-19 hotspots, for the Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi (commonly known as the Felician Sisters).

The tragic circumstances of the Felician Sisters in Livonia, Mich., made national headlines as 13 sisters of the small community ultimately succumbed to COVID-19. Their plight touched people around the world as a heartwrenching example of the toll of the pandemic, in particular to the elderly populations living communally. Though for Theresa it wasn’t just her 42 years of hospital, hospice and nursing management experience that fueled her courageous volunteerism; it was more personal. The Felician Sisters had impacted her life in a variety of ways: her older sister, Sister Anita, is a member of the religious order; she had grown up in Livonia; graduated from the Felician’s Ladywood High School and Madonna College (now University); and got married at the Madonna Student Chapel.

While her connection to the Sisters ran deep, it was the heartache of her sister’s experience that pierced her heart the most.

Sister Anita, who is eight years older than Theresa, “was like a second mother for me,” she says.

As the former care center local minister, Sister Anita was now isolated in lockdown at her convent home in Enfield, Conn.

Nightly phone calls this past spring with Theresa revealed how deeply concerned and heartbroken she was for her fellow Sisters.

Her sense of helplessness weighed heavily on Theresa, and she knew immediately what she had to do, even though she was currently working from home at her new position as the lab coordinator for Kalamazoo Valley Community College nursing program.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m a nurse and I know how to act in these care situations.’ So I checked in with the administrator of the Felician Care facility and offered to be there for three weeks.”

Anita explains that there were health care workers coming in from different areas to assist and give the permanent nursing staff a break. Theresa was assigned to caring for the sisters who were quarantined in their rooms at the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent. Those who were seriously ill were being cared for at St. Mary’s hospital, which is on the grounds of the 360-acre campus in Livonia.

Was she worried, going into the heart of a known outbreak of the deadliest pandemic to hit the United States?

“Not really,” she says nonplussed. “After 20 minutes of being onsite, any worry I might have had was gone. There was just so much to do.”

And once there, Theresa hit the ground running. She recalls the first room she visited on her first day. She walked  in to discover the sister weeping, having just learned that one of her friends (a fellow sister) had died.

And while Theresa knew she’d be exercising her nursing skills, what struck her was the need to console her patients who were grief-stricken.

“She was profoundly grieving and I just sat there with her, listening and praying while gently rubbing her back through all my protective gear.”

Theresa was particularly worried about her new patient but within days, “She was smiling again.”

Once Theresa was on the ground, how did her sister, Sister Anita, react?

“She was worried but very appreciative. I spoke with her everyday.”

Life during this time for the sisters was very isolating, explains Theresa. And even though they had modern conveniences, it was their prayer lives that impressed Theresa.

“One time I was making my rounds and I passed by a sister’s room and heard her singing. It was a praise song. It was just beautiful how she was able to find joy amidst all the sorrow.”

During the last two days of Theresa’s three-week stint at the convent, the restrictions were lifted a bit and the sisters were able to leave their rooms.

“They were elated,” says Theresa. “I told them, ‘You’re going to be able to go to chapel,’ and tears of joy sprang to their eyes.”

Theresa’s caring for the Felician Sisters was known to her parish family at St. Ambrose in Delton. Parish Administrator Sister Constance Filfelski organized a prayer chain and kept everyone informed.

“I can only imagine how shocking and devastating this must have been for their entire community,” says Sister Constance, who is a member of the Dominican Sisters. “Theresa is a very dedicated religious education teacher here. I thought she was vulnerable and that she was walking into the heart of the pandemic, but she assured me that she was feeling good and her doctor said she could go. So we all prayed.

“The Felician Sisters were my teachers all through elementary school at St. Therese in Wayland and at St. Stanislaus in Dorr,” adds Sister Constance. “I felt both glad that Theresa could offer her services, but also concerned for her well-being. I’m delighted that everything worked out. Theresa is thoughtful, resourceful and brave.”

And given Theresa’s quiet, unassuming manner, it’s likely her experience would only have been known to her family and fellow parishioners, if it wasn’t for her biggest fan, supporter and cheerleader, Shawn, her husband of 41 years.
 
Shawn wrote to Bishop Paul J. Bradley explaining how Theresa (who is in a risk category and had to receive clearance from her doctor) heroically volunteered, adding, “She’d be embarrassed by this letter.” He also gave the background and details of Theresa’s work at the convent, then asked, “But if you have a mechanism for recognizing heroic or saintly behaviors. ... Theresa embodies the message of the Liturgy of the Word.”

Bishop Bradley agreed and sent Theresa a letter expressing his gratitude for her witness as a next door saint  (see below).

And when she returned home, Shawn insisted on keeping his safe distance, quarantining in a tent in the back yard.

“It was actually pretty funny,” laughs Theresa at the memory of her homecoming, “because the first two nights we had these tremendous storms and Shawn’s tent was lifting up off the ground. I was shouting from inside sitting just a few feet from our slider door: ‘You know you can come in — I can stay in another part of the house.’”

These days, Theresa remains grateful for the experience of using the talents God gave her and hopes to go back and visit the sisters soon. She and Shawn are enjoying more time together, exploring the outdoors and sharing their love of woodworking.

And through it all, as she looks back, what was the greatest lesson she learned?

“You can still be happy in difficult circumstances when you know you’re helping others.”
 

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An Excerpt from the Letter of Commendation From Bishop:

There are many in these challenging days of the worldwide pandemic, who have laid aside concern for their own health and comfort so that they can reach out to serve the needs of our elderly and infirm sisters and brothers. Society calls them “frontline heroes”; we Catholics, to borrow Pope Francis’ term, call them “next door saints.” They are the brave and loving people of our time who, in the example of Jesus, turn away from what Pope Francis calls “the sin of indifference”, and completely give themselves to the care of those who are most in need.

I have come to know about your own heroic and saintly great wonders, Theresa, during these recent days of such worldwide suffering. You are truly one of those we have come to know as a special group of missionary disciples. On behalf of our Church, and our entire community of faith, I want to commend you for the professional skills and self-sacrificing love that you have so generously shared with the sisters, those of the same order as your own dear older sister, Sister Anita, at the Felician convent in Livonia for these last several weeks. In the midst of the great suffering you helped to relieve and the comfort you have been able to bring in light of the several deaths you have witnessed, it was your competent and caring nursing skills that so greatly helped to strengthen, protect and heal so many more of those dear holy women.
 

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Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi.

By the order’s count, there are now only 469 sisters living in 60 convents in North America.

In Livonia, they founded Madonna University, a Montessori school, St. Mary Child Care Center, Angela Hospice, and Marywood Nursing Care Center, as well as the all-female Ladywood High School, which closed in 2018.

The Sisters also sponsor the Senior Clergy Village, the Felician Children’s Center in Jackson, Deo Gratias Ministries in Detroit and the Maryville Retreat Center in Holly.

Before April, there were 57 sisters living in the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent in Livonia.

Visit: www.feliciansistersna.org/