Sr. Jeannette Normandin passed away, but not from our memories and our appreciative hearts here at the Peace Abbey.

While Catholic Chaplain at MCI Framingham in 1988, she called Lewis Randa to make the final connection with Mother Teresa, who was visiting the prison and had hoped to visit the Life Experience School. (At the time she was the School's chaplain.) The arrangements she made led to the eventual creation of the Peace Abbey.

Sr. Jeannette was also a recipient of the Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for her extraordinary life of service. Her journey of gospel living was a testimony to the greatness of moral conviction and devotion to serving the rejected, scorned and disenfranchised poor. She stood up, in her gentle and loving way, to the void within the church of administering the sacraments to those who suffered from discrimination.

She joins Oscar Romero of El Salvador as a patron saint of the Peace Abbey. A bronze memorial plaque in Sr. Jeannette's honor is being created for placement on the Pacifist Memorial on the grounds of the Peace Abbey. For more information contact the Peace Abbey office at 508-655-2143.

Boston Globe
Sister Jeannette Normandin; her ministry comforted needy
By Bryan Marquard, Globe Staff
June 2, 2006

"It was quite innocent," Sister Jeannette Normandin said about those brief moments, those few gestures steeped in Roman Catholic tradition, that altered the course of her life when she was 72.

In October 2000 , she stood at the front of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End with friends -- two gay couples who had adopted young boys. With a priest nearby, she sprinkled water on one boy and anointed him with chrism oil during baptism and recited liturgy normally reserved for priests and deacons .

Within days, Catholic Church officials stripped her of her duties at the Jesuit Urban Center, based at the Boston church, and forced her to move out. She had never lived alone before, having entered the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Anne 54 years earlier. Many parishioners were outraged by the ousting , but Sister Jeannette did not join in the fury, even though she had long been active in social justice issues and was outspoken about the evolving role of women in the Catholic Church.

"`When I pray, I ask that the spirit of God touch my heart," she said a few months later. "I made a decision -- I could have filled my heart with hatred and anger, but instead I'm going to focus myself on prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me not to be bitter."

Sister Jeannette, whose faith remained strong even as she suffered from dementia in recent years, died of a stroke Tuesday , a niece said. She was 77 and had lived at the Marie Esther Heath Center in Marlborough.

``She remained loyal to the Catholic Church and to her faith, which was just profound," said her niece Chris Normandin of Northampton. ``She lived more of a Christian life than most people who call themselves Christian. For that reason, she was deeply, deeply hurt, but she was not vengeful. She bore her burden."

Though the baptism and subsequent events made Sister Jeannette front-page news, those close to her noted that it was merely one event in a ministry that touched lives from one end of North America to the other. She was a counselor and spiritual advisor to women in prison and in 1994 founded Ruah , a home in North Cambridge for women with AIDS.

``She was on the front lines during the darkest ages of when AIDS was relentlessly ravaging people in the Boston community -- men and women," said Jonathan Scott , president and executive director of Victory Programs, a residential treatment agency for AIDS and addiction. ``Her perseverance to build and found Ruah was a remarkable achievement. It remains today just an extraordinary legacy to an extraordinary woman."

Ruah is now part of the agency Cambridge Cares About AIDS, which two years ago initiated an annual award in Sister Jeannette's name for those who honor her spirit working with people with HIV and AIDS.

``We feel tremendously privileged to carry on her work by continuing the work of Ruah," said John Gatto , the agency's executive director. `` She's an extraordinary example of tremendous gentle compassion combined with bold advocacy, and that's what we need in this work."

Sister Jeannette also had worked for several years with female prisoners at MCI-Framingham, and later moved to the nonprofit Social Justice for Women, working with troubled women through Boston Municipal Court.

Among her many honors were the Peter Medoff Award for creating housing for people with AIDS, the Jonathan Mann Distinguished Leadership Award for founding Ruah and her work in the fight against AIDS, and an award for her work with women in the criminal justice system.

Sister Jeannette grew up in Framingham and graduated from St. Anne Academy in Marlborough. In 1946 she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Anne in Lanchine, Quebec, pronouncing her religious vows two years later. She spent 21 years teaching at schools in British Columbia, Canada, and returned to Boston in 1970 when her father was dying.

S he earned a bachelor's in mathematics from Seattle University and a master's in theology at a college in California. In 2000, she was awarded an honorary degree by Anna Maria College in Paxton.

After the changes brought about by Vatican II in the 1960s , she dropped Sister Norman, the masculine name she had been assigned, and the full habit. Left to her own choices, her tastes were less muted.

``She loved clothes and she loved bright colors -- I wear some of her clothes now," her niece said. ``She enjoyed dressing up. She went from the habit to being a very smart dresser."

She cofounded a spiritual renewal retreat in Worcester, then moved in the 1970s to Washington, D.C., and worked for the national office of her order and as spiritual director for the Paulists. She returned to Boston in 1979 to be near her mother and began working at MCI-Framingham.

In an essay included as part of the book ``Generous Lives: American Catholic Women Today," Sister Jeannette said that as a young girl she had wanted to become a missionary and strongly felt throughout her life that she was being led.

``I always know exactly where to move next because things fall into place for me," she wrote. ``It's always been clear. I very rarely find myself in the dark without seeing light somewhere."

In her social justice work, ``everybody to her was a child of God," said a friend, Richard Doherty of Wakefield. ``Regardless of what your past history was or your present history, God and Jesus loved you, and that's the way she looked at it."

``She did have an aura about her," said Suzanne Belote Shanley of Hardwick, who was in jail after a civil disobedience arrest when she met Sister Jeannette. Women in prison for serious offenses, Shanley said, ``called her `Sister God.' "

``Every encounter I had with her ended with her asking me to pray for someone," said Sonia Caus Gleason of Boston, who sought out Sister Jeannette as a spiritual advisor.

As part of the wake, prayer service will be held at 4:30 p.m. today in the St. Anne Convent Chapel, during which people may speak about Sister Jeannette's life, her niece said.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the chapel. Burial in St. Mary's Cemetery, Marlborough.    

BOSTON HERALD
Sr. Jeannette Normandin
By Bostonherald.com staff
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Sister Jeannette Normandin, founder of Cambridge’s Ruah House for homeless women with AIDS and a well-known advocate for poor women, addicts and prisoners, died yesterday at the Sisters of St. Anne Convent in Marlboro.

Sister Jeannette, whose final years came to symbolize women’s struggles within the Roman Catholic Church, had been in failing health for some time. She was 78.

In 2000, she was fired by the Jesuits and evicted from her home at the Jesuit Urban Center in Boston’s South End because she had baptized two boys, violating church law that permits only priests or deacons to baptize.

Her firing caused a huge rift in the large congregation made up mostly of gay Catholic men. Credited with restoring the center’s flagging attendance and vitality, Sister Jeannette was stunned by the firing, and friends and parishioners said her health deteriorated afterward and she never regained her strength.

Sister Jeannette made her vows in 1948. During the 1970s and 1980s, she worked with women prisoners at the Boston Municipal Court and MCI-Framingham. She was known as the prison chaplain even though that title was reserved for male priests. In 1994, with private funds, Sister Jeannette opened Ruah, which means “breath of life” in Hebrew.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Sisters of St. Anne Convent, Marlboro. A wake will be held 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. tomorrowwith a prayer service at 4:30 p.m.

Burial will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Marlboro.



NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
Prophetic, unsettling times (The dismissal of Sister Jeannette Normandin and Father George Winchester for the baptism of children of gay couples)
by Chuck Colbert
January 5, 2001

Amid controversy, baptisms hopeful sign for gays

I do not write about the dismissal of Sr. Jeannette Normandin and Fr. George Winchester as members of the pastoral staff of Boston's Jesuit Urban Center as a disinterested observer.

The center has been my primary worshipping community for more than five years. Not only do I know Normandin and Winchester, who were removed from ministry after the nun assisted in a baptismal rite (NCR, Nov. 10), but also I know Fr. Tom Carroll, the center's director. All three of them have been present to me during difficult times -- as they have been to countless others who consider the Jesuit Urban Center a safe spiritual place called home.

I have had my share of disagreements with all three, expressed any number of disappointments to them during my five years associated with the center. All three, however, have heard me out, bearing with my frustration and impatience. I say frustration, referring to the institutional roadblocks that exist even at more enlightened Catholic worshipping communities for those on the edge, outside the traditional boundaries of contemporary Catholic experience.

These are unsettling times. Just about any gay-friendly pastoral ministry is perceived, sadly by far too many, to be crossing the line, pushing the envelope.

The public posture of the church hierarchy, sadly, often seems to lack compassion. This spring, for instance, the Vatican permanently silenced Sr. Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Robert Nugent, ministers dedicated to building bridges between gays and the church. This summer all 15 New England bishops decried "civil unions" in Vermont. The pope himself even scolded gays -- from the balcony of St. Peter's no less -- expressing his "bitterness" over the celebration of World Pride, a gay event, in Rome this summer.

Nonetheless, significant numbers of us remain faithful gay Catholics, although the ties that bind us to our church are becoming increasingly tenuous.

Where do we find encouragement? Some of us take heart, finding consolation at the Urban Center. For the past several years, a dedicated handful of us have served on a gay and lesbian ministry planning group. With Carroll, we are exploring together what might be helpful and possible in our ministry to so many in the community. At the Urban Center, the gay community is in fact the majority. Seventy-five percent are self-identified as gay or lesbian, according to surveys.

Under Carroll's leadership -- and with the support of the New England province of the Jesuits -- there has been measurable progress in attempting to meet the real needs of gay worshippers. I offer, as one small measure of progress, the scheduling this year of a six-lecture series on spirituality, particularly to address the spiritual growth and concerns of gay and lesbian persons.

Another, perhaps even more hopeful, development has sprung up from a most unlikely place -- the Catholic lesbian and gay baby boom. Before Normandin and Winchester got into trouble over the recent baptism, other gay couples had presented their children to the church for initiation.

To see committed couples presenting their children publicly for initiation into the church is a powerful expression of faith, if not a prophetic moment. Baptisms, moreover, are not one-shot events -- for the children, parents or those of us present, who take vows to assist in the infants' religious and spiritual upbringing. God and community willing, the Catholic Christian reality of initiation will continue to unfold, with the sacraments of confirmation and Holy Communion to follow.

Carroll said in a recent homily that a prophet's role is three-fold: to point ahead, to communicate and to encourage. The baptizing of gay couples' children fulfills such a role. It communicates and encourages our bearing witness to the truth of our lives. These baptisms point ahead to a more hopeful future.

The recent and unfortunate turn of events, the dismissal of Normandin and Winchester, is truly sad, profoundly disturbing. It pains me to see them suffering. Quite frankly, I would like to see a rapprochement between the nun and priest and the Jesuits.

Still, I trust the power of truth and justice to find their way out within the Jesuit Urban, Center's worshipping, community. Meanwhile, we cannot lose sight of the importance of baptizing a gay couple's children. There is a powerful mystery at work here -- Catholic sacraments and their amazing ability to bind the faithful. We believers attribute this power to the Holy Spirit.

Chuck Colbert, a graduate divinity student at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, serves on the board of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. His e-mail address is CrcIIIUND@aol.com

COPYRIGHT 2001 National Catholic Reporter