May 29, 2003

Seventh in a series

By Rena Lynn Masterson Fay

On July 25, 1937, Mother Mary Gervase Tuffy, BVM wrote to her sisters: "We have been invited to undertake the work of teaching Negro children in the city of Memphis, Tennessee. This new opportunity of securing the special end of our Institute… will be another channel for the grace of God which has been bestowed on us so abundantly."

Thus began the 66-year history of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary ministering in the south. Their overall history was 104 years old by that time after officially forming in Philadelphia in 1833 when five laywomen from Dublin came to teach Irish Immigrants in the New World.

Ten years later the persecution of Catholics in Philadelphia drove them away and they were welcomed to the prairie in the Iowa Territory. The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or BVM's) established boarding schools and taught in parish schools across Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The expansion of the congregation continued under the leadership of Mother Mary Frances Clarke, moving as far west as San Francisco, California.

"The invitation to open St. Augustine School in Memphis came from Bishop William Adrian who had been consecrated bishop of the Nashville Diocese in 1936. Bishop Adrian, a native Iowan, was a friend of the BVM's and one of his first actions as bishop was to establish a second parish in Memphis for `Colored Catholics.' St. Augustine, which included grades one through twelve, was the first Catholic high school in the state of Tennessee for African-American students" (SALT, A Publication of the Sisters of Charity, BVM, Winter 2003, p.4).

Since then, BVM's have taught and administered in St. Augustine elementary at 1169 Kerr Avenue and at that time, Father Bertrand High School and later, the integrated Memphis Catholic High School at 61 North McLean. St. Augustine closed in 1995 but was reopened as the first of the Jubilee Schools in 1999 and is now run by the Holy Family Sisters from New Orleans. Presently, there are four BVM's living and working in Memphis and they still serve and worship in the St. Augustine community.

Sr. Nicholas Catrambone, BVM taught religion and coordinated retreats beginning in Memphis 18 years ago. She retired in 1990 but is still active volunteering at Calvary Street Mission, working with public school teachers in Memphis on the subject of non-violence, and leading an outreach tutoring program for the children of the St. Augustine neighborhood.

Sr. Jacquelyn Cramer, BVM worked as a counselor and English teacher at Memphis Catholic and then started a guidance program at St. Augustine Elementary. She is now a counselor at Sacred Heart School in Southaven, MS and serves on the board of directors of Memphis Catholic Middle and High Schools.

Sr. Mary Immacula DeVlieger, BVM has been at St. Augustine Parish for 25 years and continues today as administrative assistant. Her duties at the school and parish over the years have included teaching music and religion, bookkeeping for the church, the school, the cafeteria and bingo, publishing the parish calendar, and working in the extended care program after school. Parishioners, parish staff members and her BVM community affectionately call her "Sister Mac." She is retiring to Chicago the first week of June and will be greatly missed by parishioners, past students and teachers and residents of the St. Augustine neighborhood.

Sr. Maria van Werkhooven, BVM has a medical background and came to Memphis in 1990 to work on a one-year post-graduate fellowship in administration at St. Joseph Hospital. She remained at St. Joseph to develop the planning department and became the Vice President for Planning and Business Development, until its closure in 1998. She currently serves The MED as director of administration at the University Medical Center Alliance, a coalition of Medical Center hospitals (The MED, the VA, Methodist University Hospital, LeBonheur Children's Hospital, UT Bowld Hospital, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital), UT Health Science Center, and Memphis Business Group on Health.

The core values that the BVM community prides itself on are freedom, education, charity, and justice. From Core Values, Sisters of Charity, BVM, freedom is the gift that permits us to become our most faithful self. Education is the process of calling forth the gift and potential of ourselves and others. Charity is the gift of love. It is that simple and profound power that calls forth a benevolent, tender and sensitive response to all peoples and events. Justice is the principle that assists us to recognize the dignity, equality and rights of all persons. The BVM sisters in Memphis exemplify their core values by working in the Minority communities and bringing the Gospel of Jesus to them.

BVM associates aid the sisters in working for justice and freedom for all God's people. The Associate Community are lay women and men that live within one's own lifestyle but collaborate in the BVM mission and join in living the BVM charism, core values and traditions. These are the women and men that will carry on the vision of Mother Mary Gervase Tuffy beginning 170 years ago.

Regarding the future of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sr. Maria van Werkhooven says, "Compared to 50 years ago the numbers are few. I trust that God continues to call women and men to follow Him and to serve His people. How God will accomplish that work in us, as our numbers are small, is also up to God. This same God has shown a pattern of calling unlikely and solitary candidates, as documented throughout the scriptures, to achieve His designs."