October 29, 2023 - "Adorers of the Blood of Christ"

Saint Maria de Mathis founded the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Italy in 1834.  The vision for this new congregation was that the sisters should provide a reconciling presence among the poor.   According to the Constitutions of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ each sister should be “a living image of that divine charity with which [Christ’s] blood was shed, and of which it was and is sign, expression, measure and pledge.”
 
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ first came to the United States in 1870 during a time of anti-Catholic activity in Germany.  By 1929 there were three provinces of Adorers of the Blood of Christ:  Ruma, Illinois; Wichita, Kansas; and Columbia, Pennsylvania.
 
A missionary priest known for his persistence was looking for a community of Sisters who could serve in the West African nation of Liberia.  After being turned down by various religious communities, in 1969 he approached the Provincial Superior of the Adorers of the Precious Blood in Ruma, Illinois.  After the community agreed to take on the mission, the first group of sisters left to work in Liberia in 1971.  Over time they would staff schools, parishes, clinics, and hospitals.  The Sisters fell in love with the people of Liberia and continued to serve for more than twenty years despite civil unrest and other challenges.
 
A civil war in Liberia made daily life increasingly dangerous.  In 1991, five sisters based in Liberia returned to the United States briefly out of concern for their safety.  They decided to return to Liberia the following year to be with the people they had come to know and love.  In 1992 an ethnically charged civil war resumed.  The question of whether to leave or stay was constantly on their minds.  In the end they decided to stay.
 
On October 20, 1992, Sisters Barbara Ann Muttra and Mary Joel Kolmer were ambushed and killed by gunmen along a dirt road they traveled to return a worker to his home.  Three days later, on October 23, soldiers shot and killed Sisters Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller, and Shirley Kolmer in front of their convent in Gardnersville, Liberia.  Other occupants in this house fled to tell the bishop in Bonga, Bomi County, Liberia.  Official news of the murder of the five Sisters wouldn’t reach the Provincial House in Ruma, Illinois until October 31, 1992. In commemorating their deaths, Pope Saint John Paul II called the sisters “Martyrs of Charity.”
 
After the five sisters were murdered, the Adorers of the Precious Blood abruptly ended their mission in Liberia.  They took time to grieve their loss, reflect on the lives of the five martyred sisters, and ponder the meaning of it all.  It wasn’t until 2008 that the relationship between the sisters and the people of Liberia was rekindled.  Three of the sisters, including two who had been in Liberia, visited and reconnected with associates and friends.  They returned to minister until 2020 but continue to stay connected to the people of Liberia and their many needs.
 
Let me conclude with a quotation from Sister Shirley Kolmer, ASC, who was one of the three martyred on October 23, 1992: “Perhaps we will come to see the day when everyone recognizes that we all inherit the earth and we can allow each person, each people to claim their rightful inheritance.”
 
Until next week, Fr. John