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Sister Adela has satisfying ministry
Published 12:00pm Monday, January 4, 2010Sister Adela has satisfying ministry
A former Fergus Falls nun, in her late 70s, has no intention of slowing down. It’s a satisfying ministry in Melrose, Minn., for Sister Adela Gross, who was known as Sister Mary Peter when she taught eighth grade and served as principal at Our Lady of Victory School in Fergus Falls during the 1960s.
She works with about 200 Hispanic families in the Melrose area, many of whom work at Jennie-O Turkey Plant. She’s also been connected, albeit in a limited capacity, with Hispanic families in the Pelican Rapids area who work at the Jennie-O plant in that community.
“I deal daily with so many people who are separated from family and loved ones, due to economic and political situations,” she said in her annual Christmas letter. “There are so many around us who are suffering from illness, unemployment, loneliness and isolation. Let us reach out to them with love and caring.”
Sister Adela, aside from challenges with her ministry, is thankful.
“This Christmas finds me so thankful for the blessings of health and a satisfying ministry,” she said, “as well as all the many ways each of you enriches my life. Regardless of the many personal and family struggles which confront all of us, there is so much more for which to be grateful.”
Most of us, she said, have the loving and caring support of family, friends and community to help us through the challenges.
This year she expressed the hope that the celebration of the birth of Jesus “will open our hearts to those in our midst and around our world who also find ‘no room in the inns’ of our fractured world. My prayer for each of you is that you find your hearts hopeful.”
Sister Adela, who has worked in various roles for the Catholic Diocese of St. Cloud which serves both Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids, assisted flood victims at Breckenridge in 1997 and has attended previous Our Lady of Victory School reunions in Fergus Falls.
Her duties at Melrose include arranging for priests to celebrate Catholic Mass every week in Spanish, doing sacramental preparation, religious instruction and outreach — including translating and helping with forms, applications, housing and medical needs.
“In addition, I try to be a resource regarding immigration and employment,” she said. “I have some great volunteers who assist me with all of this.”
For the past 30-plus years, since her return from missionary work in Peru, Sister Adela has worked with migrant farm workers across the country, including six years at the Catholic Bishops Conference in Washington, D.C., where she coordinated ministry to people on the move.
In 2000 she was recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Office of Migration and Refugee Services in recognition of her service to migrant workers.
She has 63 years of service as a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls.
“In those early years of Our Lady of Victory School in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sister Adela and her fellow teachers strived to nurture each OLV child in a safe, caring environment to become faith-filled witnesses of Christ in our world,” said current OLV Principal Sandy Carpenter after the 8:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday. “I attended OLV when Sister Adela taught here. She contributed much to the success of this school over the years and helped build OLV to the fine school it is today.”
Other former students, teachers, parents and parishioners agree. While many of her former students are retired, she’s still working full-time while helping those less fortunate.
Sister Adela’s words about reaching out to those in need “with love and caring” should be taken to heart by each of us.
