Gulf Pine Catholic

10 Gulf Pine Catholic • June 26, 2020 Resurrection Catholic Elementary School welcomes new principal Resurrection Catholic School in Pascagoula wel- comes Sister Marilyn Springs, IWBS, as the new prin- cipal of Resurrection Catholic Elementary School. Sister Marilyn Grace Springs, IWBS, is a Sister of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament. Sister Marilyn was born in Buffalo, New York. She attended Catholic school in Buffalo up until her junior year when she came to Texas to help with her paternal grandmother who was ill. A year after her grandmother died, she applied to Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and went on to teach in the public-school system in San Antonio. After seven years of teaching in the public-school system, she decided that she wanted to do something else with her life. She received a call from a Sister of the Incarnate Word, who was principal of a small Catholic school in San Antonio, who needed a first-grade teacher. During this time, Sister Marilyn felt called to the religious life. With the help of her principal, she applied to enter the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1992. After her years of training to become a Sister, she was sent to St. Mary’s University where she received her master’s degree in Catholic School Leadership. Upon receiving her master’s degree, Sister Marilyn was sent to Brownsville, Texas where she served as principal of Incarnate Word Academy for 14 years. After fourteen years as principal in Brownsville, Texas, Sister Marilyn was asked to be the principal of Holy Family Catholic School in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 2017. During this time, she received her Doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida. Sister Marilyn’s vast knowledge of curriculum com- bined with her experience as an instructional leader will be a blessing to RCS. Sister Marilyn will relocate to Pascagoula in mid-July to begin her tenure as principal of RCES. When asked about her new position at RCES, Sister Marilyn stated, “I am blessed to be given the opportu- nity to serve and minister to Resurrection Catholic School. With God, all things are possible, and together we can accomplish great things.” Sr. Marilyn Women religious, inspired by current protests, also see long road ahead BY CAROL ZIMMERMANN Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Across the coun- try, women religious have joined in peaceful protests against racial inequality, while others, home for health reasons amid the pandemic, are very much in spirit with the marchers. But on the streets or not, many of them see the scourge of systemic racism not just as a blight on the nation but something the church must own up to and help eradicate. Several women religious who spoke with Catholic News Service during the second week of June are no strangers to protests or justice advocacy. They said they’re been inspired by the massive crowds gathering in towns and cit- ies demanding action in the wake of George Floyd’s death May 25 at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. But these sisters -- especially black women religious who make up less than 1% of U.S. sisters -- keep their hope fueled by this current movement very much in check, acknowledg- ing the long road ahead to achieve change or healing. Sister Leona Bruner, congregational leader of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, a histori- cally black congregation founded in 1842, said the wave of peaceful protests in all 50 states “should be a turning point” and is something she and fellow sisters are praying will happen. Likewise, Sister Anita Baird, a member of the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, and the founding director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice, said she is “optimistic in some respects” right now but she also takes the long view. She cautions: “We have to stay focused; we can’t grow tired.” “We’re at a moment that if we don’t get it right, we’re on our way to self-destruction as a nation,” she said. Sister Marcia Hall, an Oblate Sister of Providence, the first congregation of black women religious in the United States, founded in 1829 in Baltimore, had a similar take, say- ing: “I want to be hopeful, but by nature I am a skeptic. “ She is encouraged that the “number of white allies this time seems to be increasing and they are not just coming out and going back home; they seem to be in this for the long haul.” Sister Hall, vocational director for the Oblates, said her hope is conditional and will increase once steps are taken toward police reform and more people vote this November. At the Baltimore motherhouse where she lives, the sisters have been praying daily for racial equality efforts and with the news on in the common room’s TV every night, the dinner conversation has been pretty lively. “We are very much aware of what’s going on,” she said, adding that it also speaks to the history of their order, which she said was founded “because we couldn’t join the white community” of local women religious. Sister Baird, who is in her 70s and was traveling around the country giving anti-racism workshops for Catholic groups and parishes before the COVID-19 restrictions started, said about current protests: “I wish I could be out there with them.” SEE WOMEN RELIGIOUS PROTESTS, PAGE 13 Mercy Sisters Lisa Griffith and Regina Ward, leaders in the Mercy Education System of the Americas, take part in a peaceful protest June 7 in Silver Spring, MD. Across the country, women religious have joined in peaceful protests against racial inequality, while others, home for health reasons amid the pandemic, are very much in spirit with the marchers. CNS photo/courtesy Mercy Sisters of the America