They describe themselves as an global congregation who are “committed to work for justice in solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially the economically poor and women, and to care for the earth”.
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(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis).
Friends say two nuns who were found slain in their MS home “would do anything for anybody”.
At the clinic, the sisters cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples and asked about how treatment was going for some patients, Ms Dew said.
Authorities were searching Friday for the killer or killers who broke into a rural MS home and stabbed to death a pair of Catholic nuns described by heartbroken friends as “earthly angels” devoted to helping others.
The two nuns provided nearly all the care at the clinic and cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples, the clinic’s manager Lisa Dew said.
No details have been released on the possible suspect, but police say they recovered a auto stolen from the home during the break-in, and a crime lab is due to examine it for forensic evidence.
Rosemarie Merrill on Friday described her sister Paula and the second nun who was killed with her, Margaret Held, as generous women who would give you the shirt off their backs. “You need somebody with that passion to love the people and work in the underserved area”, Abboud said. “For somebody to come and do this frightful act, we are all shocked”, he added. Police have so far failed to confirm the causes of death and have yet to establish a suspect, but Fr Greg Plata OFM, parish priest of St Thomas’ Catholic Church in Lexington said that police had told him the two nuns had been stabbed.
“They were two of the sweetest, most gentle women you can imagine”.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, who released a statement late August 25, said the sisters “leave a legacy of dedication to their consecrated life and deep compassion for those they served”.
Maureen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, said that there were signs of a break-in at the nuns’ home.
Their auto, which was not outside their home, was later found abandoned just under a mile away from the sisters’ home.
Abboud estimated that the clinic provided about 25 percent of all the medical care in the county.
“I think their absence is going to be felt for a long, long time. Paula was a bit more shy, yet in the clinic I was always impressed by her professional demeanor”, Plata said. “They’re the only health care workers in this area for a lot of these poor people”. “It’s going to be rough”.
Authorities did not release a motive for the killings and it was not clear if the nuns’ religious work had anything to do with the attack.
They were found stabbed in a residence in Durant, north of Jackson, Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard said.
The Catholic community in MS is relatively small. The diocese said there are about 108,000 Catholics in Mississippi. “We mourn with the people of Lexington and Durant and we pray for the Sisters of Charity, the School Sisters of St. Francis and the families left behind”.
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“What really appalls me is that 60 per cent of the children live in poverty”, said Sister Held. She was from MA and joined the order in 1979. Merrill was affiliated with the Sisters of Charity in Nazareth, Kentucky.
