G
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VOLUME 34 / NUMBER 1
SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
Murdered nuns recalled for their generosity,
service in Mississippi
Hundreds gathered for a Wake service for Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, OSF, at
St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., Sunday, August 28. Sisters Merrill and Held were found
murdered in their home in Durant the previous Thursday. Presiding at the wake were (l-r) Father Gregory
Plata, OFM, Bishop Joseph Kopacz, bishop of the Diocese of Jackson and Father P.J. Curley and Mary
Woodward, diocesan chancellor.
Photo by Maureen Smith, Mississippi Catholic
Sister Margaret Held, 68, a member of the School
Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, and Sister Paula
Merrill, 68, a member of the Sisters of Charity of
Nazareth in Kentucky, are pictured in undated
photos. The two women religious were found stabbed
to death Aug. 25 in their Durant, Mississippi, home,
police said.
CNS photo/School Sisters of St. Francis and Sisters
of Charity of Nazareth
BY MAUREEN SMITH
Catholic News Service
JACKSON, Miss. (CNS) -- The deaths of Sister
Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill demand justice,
but not revenge, Franciscan Father Greg Plata said dur-
ing a memorial Mass for the women religious in the
Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle.
‟I truly believe with all my heart that Margaret and
Paula would tell us that we need to keep loving,ˮ said the
priest during the Aug. 29 Mass.
Father Plata is sacramental administrator of St.
Thomas the Apostle Church in Lexington, Mississippi,
the parish in which the sisters were active.
Sister Margaret, a member of the School Sisters of St.
Francis in Milwaukee, and Sister Paula, a member of the
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, were recalled
by family and friends in prayer services and Masses in
the days after they were found dead Aug. 25 in the
Durant, Mississippi, home they shared.
Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi,
has been charged with two counts of capital murder, lar-
ceny and burglary in connection with the incident.
The day before the Mass, representatives of the sis-
ters’ religious communities and families issued a state-
ment opposing the death penalty for the suspect charged
in their deaths.
‟Many people will be dismayed, even angered at the
joint statement the School Sisters of St. Francis and the
Sisters of Charity made stating that they are opposed to
the death penalty that could be imposed on the person
who committed this terrible crime,ˮ Father Plata said at
the Mass. ‟But think of the powerful statement that
makes. At the heart of Christianity is forgiveness. ‛Father
forgive them for they know not what they do.’
‟Forgiveness isn’t something we do on our own. It is
something we choose to do with God’s grace,ˮ the
Franciscan said.
During a brief vigil at the sisters’ home Aug. 27, rep-
resentatives of the religious orders called for a period of
reflection and remembrance.
Sister Susan Gatz, president of the Sisters of Charity
of Nazareth, and Sister Rosemarie Rombalski, of the
School Sisters of St. Francis, went into the womenʼs
home prior to the ceremony for prayer, closure and
reflection. In the kitchen, they discovered a loaf of bread
in a bread maker. The simple act -- typical of the sisters
who were known for being generous with their good
food -- turned into a life-giving symbol for the communi-
ties.
‟Marge and Paula really had that sense of offering
bread to each other. The bread of life, the bread of ener-
gy, the bread of hope,ˮ Sister Rosemarie said.
SEE MS NUNS REMEMBRANCE, PAGE 6
