Valerie Roche
A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura
by Eileen Markey (Nation Books, $US 26.99 / £21.00)
It is difficult in this era of global communications to imagine what it must have been like for Sr Maura Clarke to leave behind the familiar, stable life in the convent in Ossining, New York and set out for Central America in 1959.
It is true that when Maura joined the Maryknoll Sisters she was well aware that she would be heading into the unknown, and that her visits back to the United States would be infrequent. However, as she set out, she would have had no idea that she would live, and die, deeply committed to her new life alongside the communities she had chosen to serve.
The Maryknoll Sisters were, and still are, known for their down-to-earth ministry, working in remote areas of the globe, working with poor people and not just for poor people, concerned with the totality of people’s lives and not just their spiritual wellbeing.
Maura Clarke was no exception. Her first assignment was in the remote mining town of Siuna in Northern Nicaragua, and then after the devastating earthquake in 1972, in ‘Open 3’ squatter camp in Managua. Her final months were spent helping those who had got caught up in the violence of the civil war in El Salvador. Here she worked fearlessly ferrying injured people to hospital, medicines to rebel areas, and standing up against the brutal repression of the National Guard.
She was well aware of the dangers, but did not hesitate to help the people whose fears and hopes she now shared unreservedly.
A Radical Faith is an insightful account of the life and adventures of this intrepid woman, at a time when the Catholic Church was undergoing profound changes in Latin America, when Vatican II was expanding the vision of ministry, and where lay Catholics were taking an increasingly active role in the emerging Christian Base Communities.
The life of Maura is emblematic of these changes. Her initial 17 years as a missionary in Nicaragua saw her deepen her understanding of the social injustices which were at the root of the abhorrent poverty of the people she had come to serve, and led her to identify increasingly with those who stood up against the authorities who strove to maintain the status quo.
Sr Maura’s Christian faith led her to take a radical stand. Her Irish roots helped her to understand the social conflicts she encountered and her deep engagement with the individuals she worked with came from her commitment to people and a desire to lessen their suffering.
If I have one small issue with this book, it is the sub-title: “The assassination of Sister Maura”. We imagine from this that we will read extensively of the circumstances of her shocking murder; that we will be exposed to the gruesome details of the rape and murder of Sr Maura and her companions Ita Ford, Jean Donovan and Dorothy Kazel on that terrible night in December 1980.
However, author Eileen Markey chooses to pass swiftly and with great sensitivity over the circumstances of their death, and the speculations which surrounded that horrifying occurrence. Instead she focuses almost the entire book on the wonderful life and work of these most remarkable women whose exemplary life should inspire those who espouse the Christian faith to live their beliefs in deeds and actions, and not just in words and prayer.