Sister Teresa Frawley knows about hope. Like Isaiah 40, she believes that “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”
Sister Teresa has traveled a long way since her birth 81 years ago in the wind-swept hills of County Clare on the West Coast of Ireland. When the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia visited her high school in Ireland, she was touched by the sisters and their mission to live a life in service to the poor.
This vocational tug built upon her mother’s deep devotion to St. Francis. While reading a magazine, young Teresa saw the faces of the hungry and impoverished in America, and she felt called to serve in this new country.
Sister Teresa traded in the hills of County Clare for the hills of Wyoming where she has now spent over 40 years offering the Church’s presence to the Native American communities she now serves.
Sister Teresa serves the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho native peoples on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The reservation is huge–it covers 2.2 million acres. And to make matters more complicated, the Shoshone and Arapaho peoples have, in the past, been rivals. But Sister Teresa quickly learned that the people were united in their need for hope.
Sister Teresa Frawley is a finalist for our Lumen Christi Award, our highest honor given to people who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present in the communities where they serve. Click here to read the stories of our eight finalists this year.
Like any missionary, when she arrived, she listened. She listened to the Native elders who told her, “What we need most is to know that you care about us.” She said the advice “seemed so simple and yet so complicated in some ways. But I thought that’s what I’d really like to do–walk among the people and be with them.”
She quickly learned that a staggering number of people on the reservation were lost to drug overdoses and suicides. (Suicide is the leading cause of death among native American youth in Wyoming.) Her ministry would start there, in the place of grief, seeking hope.
She began a powerful bereavement ministry that continues today. It’s when families are grieving that Sister Teresa’s presence is most appreciated and welcomed. She has a deep understanding and appreciation for the cultural and spiritual aspects unique to the Arapaho and Shoshone people.
She developed a funeral vigil prayer service that incorporates drumming and hair-cutting bereavement ceremonies that are so important to the people as they process pain. She also leads the Rosary at wakes, helps with funeral arrangements, and conducts memorial services on the one-year anniversary of the funeral—a common tradition in Native American communities.
Sister Teresa has a resilience that mirrors the resolve of the people she serves. She faces the demanding physical challenges of living alone in the harsh and rugged environment of Wyoming.
Winter temperatures of 50 below and July temperatures of 105 degrees have strengthened her so that shoveling snow, repairing frozen pipes and installing evaporative swamp coolers are no problem for her at the three parishes she serves.
After four years on the reservation, she was given the great honor of the name, “Eagle Wing Woman.” The eagle is revered in Native communities because it is the creature that flies the highest and is closest to the Creator.
Sister Teresa explained, “[The Shoshone elder] said that she gave me that name because I bring blessing to the home and bring prayer. It was quite an honor, and I do appreciate it. It kind of took my breath away.”
From the eagle’s perspective, there are no boundaries between people. There are no divisions. There is no separation between the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes. There is only one people, one family journeying together.
The eagle sees with the eyes of God. That is the way, Sister Teresa sees her people too. She is truly the Eagle Wing Woman.
Click here to read the stories behind all eight of our Lumen Christi Award finalists.
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