missionaries Babies get plenty of love from Sister Agnes Perrin, N.D.S., Feten, a local childcare worker, and Sister Araceli Medina, N.D.S. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion cosponsor the nursery in Nabeul, Tunisia as part of an outreach to unwed mothers.
Catholic sisters thriving in a Muslim world Catholic sisters have quietly carved out a Christian presence of loving service in the largely Muslim North African country of Tunisia.
by
Pat Morrison
I
n modern-day Tunisia a small community of Catholic sisters helps care for babies whose young mothers face difficult choices. Three members of the international Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion help staff a small nursery in the Tunisian coastal city of Nabeul. Up to 14 infants, from new-
Pat Morrison is a Catholic journalist who has reported widely on the Middle East, Tunisia, and the Muslim world. A vowed lay woman in the Carmelite tradition, she is a member of the Association of Contemplative Sisters. She lives in Dayton, Ohio.
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borns to about nine months, are cared for with the help of the sisters and nine local Muslim women who are professional child-care workers. The nursery provides a loving, homelike environment for babies while their unwed mothers decide if they are able to keep them. These sisters are part of an impressive network of ministries in Tunisia provided by 13 different communities of Catholic sisters. Schools, learning centers, libraries, kindergartens, nurseries, and health clinics dot the length and breadth of the country. With the exception of tourists and the European expatri-
VISION 2011
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