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Sister Bernie, a Religious Witness
Sister Bernie Galvin, cdp, is a Catholic nun belonging to the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio, Texas. She’s been in the San Francisco newspapers because she recently retired from Religious Witness, an organization which she founded to help people who are homeless. Here’s what Heather Knight of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about Sister Bernie today:
Sister Bernie Galvin, a Catholic nun and former junior high school teacher turned homeless advocate, founded Religious Witness with Homeless People 15 years ago and has been a regular City Hall presence ever since.
She’s fought against sweeps of homeless people and against city efforts to hand out tickets for crimes like camping on the sidewalk and holding an open booze container. She famously held a three-day memorial service in 2005 for the nearly 2,000 homeless people who had died over 18 years in the city.
But she’s exhausted herself in the process and following the recent deaths of her mother and sister, she needs a break. She is leaving her organization to spend a year in solitude – likely at a retreat praying, reading and painting.
“Whatever feeds my soul,” she said.
She’s leaving Religious Witness permanently, but not retiring. She’ll be back in some fashion, she told supporters in a letter.
“This sabbatical year is not to be construed as ‘retirement,’ ” she wrote. “For me, the age of 75 years is much too early to consider retirement, for heaven sake!”
Blessings to Sister Bernie on her year of sabatical. Our prayers are with you.
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Thank you for this beautiful post! I pray she will have a restful, joyful and refreshing retreat.
How inspiring! I wish Sister Bernie all the best as she “feeds her soul”. What an example she is to us all.
It’s often the “hidden faces” doing the greatest works of the Lord. I’ll be praying for Sister Bernie. Good post.
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As I walk ,I will always try to walk in her footsteps,and I know she follows Christ’s…”Peac” O consolator dolentis animae.