DIOCESAN NEWS
04/09/10
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Priest says Sister Thea Bowman had ability
to bring all races, cultures together
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CNS) — For Redemptorist Father Maurice Nutt, the late Sister Thea Bowman is his “personal patron saint of racial reconciliation that is sorely needed in our society.”
“I pray to her often for her intercession for this petition because she had the ability to bring people no matter their differences to a place of acceptance and peace,” said the priest in his remarks at a March 30 graveside memorial service in Memphis marking the 20th anniversary of the nun’s death.
Sister Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), was nationally known for her work to advance the life of her fellow black Catholics in the church. She was 52 when she died of bone cancer. For the last two years of her life, the disease forced her to spend most of her time in bed or a wheelchair. She died on March 30, 1990, in her home in Canton, Miss., and was buried alongside her parents in Memphis.
 At the time of her death, she had been a consultant for intercultural awareness for the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., for about 20 years.
An educator, evangelist and gospel singer, she drew capacity crowds wherever she went, giving lectures and workshops on black Catholic culture and life.
But she also reached out to all cultures in the church, as Father Nutt noted in his remarks.
“Sister Thea, because of her love of God, love of the church, love and acceptance of all people, caused us to bring the very best of ourselves and our various cultures to build up the body of Christ — the church,” he said.
“She urged us to be the ‘church’ that is faithful and faith-filled and fully functioning,” said the priest, who is pastor of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Parish in Memphis.
Father Nutt recalled he met Sister Bowman in 1984, the year she was told she had breast cancer, which later spread to her bones. That same year she also had to cope with the death of her mother and father just a month apart, he said.
“In the midst of her personal trauma and sadness, she still had joy and shared that joy with others,” Father Nutt said. “She remained a light of hope to others. She often said ‘if God doesn’t give me what I ask, God will give me something better.’”
“Sister Thea said she wanted the epitaph on her tombstone to simply read: ‘She Tried.’ We gather 20 years later at her grave — some who knew her well and many others who never knew her at all but have been told her story and have been touched by the lives she touched,” Father Nutt said.
“We gather to remember and celebrate her life and legacy. Twenty years later we gather to say that Sister Thea not only tried but succeeded. Sister Thea is forever loved,” he added.
The priest said he believes the late nun is a saint. Though not officially canonized, “Sister Thea is canonized in the hearts of all who knew and loved her,” he said.
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