Celebrating 50 years of service to humanity
For her the communal life is a relationship that forms part of her Franciscan calling. "The spirit of our charism calls us to live in humble dedication to our communal life and meeting the needs of the people. It is important to me.
BARBERTON – They say angels walk among us. I have always wondered about that, but since I started teaching at St John’s Care Centre three years ago, I have met such an angel, Sister Anece Salay.
She has just celebrated her golden jubilee (50 years of service as a sister of the Franciscan Order) in the USA and on returning to Barberton, we had the privilege to have our own festivities with her. Bishop Joseph Sandri and Father Francis Muhende led the service in the chapel on the mission grounds where she renewed her vows in front of sisters, friends and the children of St John’s.
Sr Anece grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the middle child of three girls. According to her the Maryknoll Sisters came to speak to them in grade school, and the sisters who encouraged them to be active in the Holy Childhood Association as part of their missionary activity in the church, gave birth to her call to the foreign missions.
Sr Anece came to St John’s in 1989. Before that she ministered at St Joseph School and Parish and St Francis Academy in San Antonio, Texas.
She said her time in Texas was her training ground. The communities she lived in, the people, (especially the children), and the experiences were part of her formation for her mission in Africa.
Prior to 1997 Sr Anece was part of a team that took care of the hostel children at St John’s Mission. Since 1997 it has become a safe haven and home for HIV orphans and Sr Anece with Sisters Denise, Frantiska and Reena became the mothers of many.
Her expertise was teaching and most of the children who arrived at the centre were very ill and malnourished. Because of this many could not attend school for a number of years and she gave them home schooling. For her the communal life is a relationship that forms part of her Franciscan calling. “The spirit of our charism calls us to live in humble dedication to our communal life and meeting the needs of the people. It is important to me.
We are not goddesses but in all humbleness, very much human with all that it entails,” she said.
Working with people who are excited about life and ministry, who continue to dream and have visions of what could be and do something about it, people who care, who get up each day and go to bed each night knowing there is a God and to rejoice in just that, has made choosing religious life most rewarding.
