7.14.2014

Joyful, Loving Service ... Sister Eleanor Gilmore, CSJP

Sister Eleanor with friends in El Salvador
Our community lost one of our most joyful, loving and gently powerful Sisters last week.  This week we will be celebrating the life of Sister Eleanor Gilmore as we say goodbye and lay her to rest.  Her death was quite sudden, unexpected and, to be quite honest, very hard to wrap your head around.  Eleanor was not only my CSJP Sister, she was also a friend, mentor, and role model of how to integrate justice and peace into your life and ministry with JOY.

I had the opportunity to live next door to Eleanor for a year during temporary profession. She was often the first person I saw in the morning and the last person I saw in the evening (we shared a bathroom!). Eleanor was also interested in what was going on in your life, in your ministry, family, etc... Her care, concern, and interest was always genuine and you could tell when you answered that she was listening intently.  

I first met Eleanor on one of her visits home from El Salvador, where she was ministering through PazSalud, the health mission she founded in 2001.  That ministry is still going strong today--a joint effort between the CSJPS and PeaceHealth hospital system--providing health care to people with very limited resources.

Eleanor was one of our CSJP Sisters present to the people of El Salvador during the Civil War. Eleanor worked there from 1988 to 1993, coordinating health care through Jesuit Relief services for the people returning from refugee camps.  In their ministry to the poor, Eleanor and the other Sisters were captured and detained by the military more than once.  One arrest had Eleanor detained two days and nights after machine-gun toting soldiers came to the house where she was staying. Keep in mind this was after the martyrdom of the American Church women, Archbishop Romero, and countless others.

I had the privilege of going on a pilgrimage of sorts to El Salvador with Eleanor and other CSJP Sisters and Associates when I was a novice. It was a truly transformative experience, not the least because of the authentic and embodied love of God's people in need that Eleanor witnessed to with every smile and conversation. Watching her, I came to understand this passage from our CSJP constitutions more deeeply.

We value the ministry of presence
as an important dimension
of the gospel of peace.
In the hope of continuing our tradition
of gracious hospitality,
we welcome others to our communities
and also try to be present to people
in their own situations.

Whatever she was doing, Eleanor gave life, love, and form to the ministry of presence. In addition to being present to the people of El Salvador for over 20 years, Eleanor served joyfully in leadership for our community, with PeaceHealth, and on the board of Mercy Housing.

As I was looking through my photos, I found this one which I took a few years ago at a Valentine's Day party at St. Mary on the Lake. Another Sister had her elementary students write Valentines for the Sisters. Here is Eleanor reading hers. Eleanor loved God and loved God's people, and she was deeply loved in return.



It is next to impossible to sum up Eleanor's life in words. I for one am just grateful our paths crossed and that I am able to call her Sister.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely post. I had the privilege and honor of working with Sister Eleanor for a year in San Salvador. You are correct that her life is impossible to sum up in any amount of words. She was in incredible leader and exemplified love. The world suffers as much from her loss as any who knew her personally because she strived to make it a better place and did so humbly. The only consolation in her passing is knowing she did so quickly, and by recognizing that even if there were no angels watching over us before, we certainly have one now. Rest in peace Eleanor, thanks for being the best example of how to live I have ever known. -- Jonathan P. Huser

Bob De Vita said...

I just learned of Sr. Eleanor"s death and am deeply saddened. As a newcomer to the Peace Health Board, sister was so welcoming and truly interested in my own life, while I was astonished at the stories I heard about her courage, reliience and fearlessness in the face of the terrors of El Salvador. May this great lady rest in the peace of Christ, which she gave to all.

Bob De Vita
Milwaukee, Wi.

Bob De Vita said...

I just learned of Sr. Eleanor"s death and am deeply saddened. As a newcomer to the Peace Health Board, sister was so welcoming and truly interested in my own life, while I was astonished at the stories I heard about her courage, reliience and fearlessness in the face of the terrors of El Salvador. May this great lady rest in the peace of Christ, which she gave to all.

Bob De Vita
Milwaukee, Wi.