Our story in photos

Photo snapsots depicting highlights of Our Lady’s Missionaries’ history in mission

By Sr. Myra Trainor
May/June 2013

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Sister Myra Trainor in the Philippines... training dedicated and generous catechists and health workers eager to acquire skills to help their people.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. As I sort and file Our Lady’s Missionaries’ photos of the past 60 years in our archives, I am grateful that we have captured and preserved some of our work and life in mission. These pictures show a little of our story with the people we were privileged to know and accompany. On the facing page are just a few highlights.

I frequently ask myself if anyone in the future will be interested in the life and ministries of Our Lady’s Missionaries, or does it all die with us? I am comforted by the thought that if our mission endeavours were of interest to people in our active years, maybe our work will be of interest to some in the future.

Sr. Suzanne Marshall in Nigeria…accompanying people with AIDS at a time when antiretroviral drugs for preventing the advance of the disease were unavailable.

The Church continues to document great events of the world, but what of our little histories? We were very fortunate to be in overseas mission in our time, living mostly in remote, isolated areas that were generally very underdeveloped, but with tremendous unspoiled natural beauty. In our later years of mission, improvements came and so-called economic progress—electricity installed, roads upgraded, and big shopping malls that replaced open air markets.

My next endeavour is to sort photos of our various ministries in Canada. As our overseas missions close, these pictures will also feature our returning missioners continuing to serve in Canada in a variety of new ways.

Sister Doris MacDonell in Guyana...visiting and consoling the elderly in their sickness at home and in hospital

Sr. Clarice Garvey in Brazil... supporting farmers who struggle for rights to the very land they laboured on for many years.

Sister Maejanet MacDonell in East Timor... welcoming and supporting Timorese people as they return to their country after being exiled in Indonesia for many years.

Sister Cathy Peco in Japan... nursing in a tuberculosis hospital.

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