July 2006 - Sister Francis Rose Rivers, SSND

In her younger years, Sister Francis Rose Rivers, SSND, did not think of herself as a bridge builder. Now, with a life spanning 70 years and two cultures, this diminutive nun thinks "bridge builder" a most appropriate term that springs from the reality and vitality of her own family experience and from her lifetime of educational work as a School Sister of Notre Dame.

From early on, Eva Maria, the youngest of seven children, felt drawn to the religious life, an attraction stimulated especially when she was in seventh grade by the arrival of a community of nuns from the Schools Sisters of Notre Dame who began to teach at her school. At 13, with the encouragement of her pastor and her parents, she joined 50 other girls her age to make the long trip to St. Louis to become a postulant at the School Sisters' mother house where she excelled in her studies. In 1954 she joyfully pronounced her vows as a member of that religious community taking the name, Sister Francis Rose.

After spending much of her religious life as a teacher and then principal in various California elementary and secondary schools staffed by her order, Sister Francis Rose decided, after much prayer, to take a sabbatical from education to discern how she might best transition from school-based educator to parish based work, assisting both Hispanics and Anglos to understand and meet their common spiritual and human needs.

"I had always wanted to come back to a small town environment," Sr. Francis Rose recalled. "I thought I could make a greater impact in such a place and become a bridge builder between the Hispanic and Anglo communities." In Verona, population 714, she got her wish for a small town. Now, looking back over the past three years of her residence there, she reflected with satisfaction that she, indeed, had become the bridge builder she hoped to be.

Her energy imparts vitality to all her endeavors. Ever the educator, as befits the charism of her order, Sr. Francis Rose recognized that many in the Verona Hispanic community were illiterate and that their leadership talents were undeveloped. She has begun to change both realities, using the parish facilities as a base of operations.

She organized English as a second language classes, giving the eager participants a chance to improve their communication skills with their Anglo co-workers and parishioners. "I have been impressed by the willingness of many immigrants to hurry home and then to class despite working long hours and irregular shifts in the poultry processing plants in the area," she commented. She has found them equally as eager to attend driver's education classes she conducts once a week.

In addition, she conducts all levels of pastoral leadership workshops, encouraging the new arrivals to learn more about their faith, how it is practiced in the United States, and helping them become lectors, eucharistic ministers and catechists at the parish.

Sister also agreed to become a chaplain at a major poultry processing plant in the nearby town of Monett. No desk job, Sr. Francis walks the lines all day once a week. She greets people, counsels them as needed, and assists them in completing forms and with their orientation to the work. She holds short religious services, such as the Ash Wednesday ceremony, during their break time. She is on 24-hour call for crisis intervention and emergency counseling especially when there is an accident or death among the plant workers or their families.

In Verona and the nearby town of Aurora, Sister Francis Rose has become well known in the political and medical communities. Her tasks are many and varied. She serves as a point of contact between the Verona city council and the Hispanic community helping both communities understand the realities and needs of the other.

As a board member for "Salud Para La Vida" out of Missouri State University, she linked students in the departments of nursing and sociology with a parish initiative to host a clinic once a year in conjunction with the Missouri State Health Department, thus providing access for the Hispanic community to needed healthcare. She frequently serves as translator for Spanish speaking persons admitted to the local hospitals. These and similar activities come in addition to her responsibilities for the normal sacramental preparation of her parishioners, Anglo and Hispanic alike.

Sr. Francis Rose expects much from the Anglos and the Hispanics of Sacred Heart parish. She strives to give them as much opportunity to grow and interact as possible. She points with pride to the pictures of this year's valedictorian and salutatorian from the local high school. Both of them are Hispanic, and it was she who encouraged them and provided a quiet place for them to study in the past three years.

Her busy schedule often stretches her, the parish facilities and the parishioners, but, as she explains, "As ministers of the faith for a poor community, we need to be dream weavers. We need to empower people to dream big. If we love them, we have to have big expectations of them...to tell them, 'I love you and I have great expectations of you.'"

Sister Francis Rose knows first hand from her own family history that bridge building is hard work. There is always more to be done. While she could easily list a dozen things she still hopes to accomplish, it is hard to imagine how she and the Sacred Heart parish community of 238 households could be any more dynamic as they steadily build bridges into the 21st century.

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