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LIVING
Mercy
Sister Mary Redempta Scannell: A Sister in Survival A gentle but sturdy-looking woman, Sister Mary Redempta Scannell has a history of standing her ground. After her first retirement in the early 1990s, she advocated for HIV/AIDs sufferers in the Sacramento area for 20 years. She marched in early AIDS walks, distributed food, and counseled women who felt terrified and isolated. Some of the women have been able to thank her in a special way. Inside the recently published book, Mosaic: Sisters in Survival, the dedication reads: “This book is dedicated to Mireya Herrera and Sister Redempta Scannell who have worked with our group for over 20 years.” The stories inside chronicle the painfully raw lives of women who have survived drugs, divorces, alcoholism, and domestic abuse, as told by the women themselves. The narratives are difficult to read. Some have been homeless and had children taken from them. They all have HIV/AIDS. One of the reasons the women are alive to tell their stories is because Sister Redempta found ways to support them with a stubborn and practical compassion. Sister Redempta was drawn to AIDS patients through her nursing ministry at Mercy San Juan Hospital in the 1980s. As director of education and training, she was a resource for the nursing staff who was fearful about patients admitted with this new disease. One day a call came to her. “There’s a man here admitted with AIDS to the hospital who is very angry. He’s throwing things at whoever enters,” the nurse reported. “No one will go in. Can you talk to him, Sister?” Sister Redempta went to the ward to talk to the man. “Don’t throw anything,” she said. When no missiles flew, she followed up with, “What problems are you having?” “Cold food,” he said gruffly, “and my coffee is cold.” Sister Redempta promised him she would personally microwave his food. “But you have to promise not to throw things,” she said. A deal was
a deal. Two days later he was released to go home to die, but not without her friendship. She was not afraid to touch AIDS patients, and she urged nurses to get close to them and to listen to their needs. The patients, men and women, found they could talk to her. They engaged her special combination of independence and single-minded devotion to the poor. She joined the ranks of those trying to meet the needs of AIDS sufferers in the diocese. When Bishop Francis Quinn appointed Father John Healy, coordinator of AIDS ministry, to form the Catholic AIDS Ministry for the Diocese in 1986, Father Healy called Sister Redempta. After 38 years as a nurse, supervisor and administrator, she left Mercy San Juan hospital in 1992 and immediately began full-time work for HIV/ AIDS patients. Sister Redempta became well-known in the greater Sacramento area for her dedication. The work was profoundly personal for her, as she had nursed a dear friend who died of AIDS in 1991, suffering from the stigma of the disease. In this controversial field, she focused on needs she saw and was not deterred by others’ opinions. When people wrote to the Bishop to protest the Church’s ministry with AIDS, she would work with dying women to make sure that their children would receive care. She sought out AIDS orphans all over the region to help place them in homes. “Sister Redempta never wasted any time bothering about winning friends and influencing people!” said Father Healy. “She worked on needle exchange programs, and she did unbelievable work. She chaired the AIDS ministry for several years and would always make the meetings short. She would say, ‘Let’s stop discussing and go do it.’” Father Healy remembers Sister Redempta’s calls to him to minister to dying AIDS patients and the funerals which followed. It was a bleak time with so many deaths. Often the only people present were Fr. Healy, Sister Redempta, and the undertaker.