How does a young religious end up at the bedside of patients in a rehabilitation center during the pandemic? This is Sr. France’s story, a member of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem. Her degrees in spiritual counseling and social work – earned years before she entered religious life – caught up with her and became precious during the pandemic. As the province of Quebec’s public health services recruited aides to support the overwhelmed regular personnel in long-term care facilities and seniors’ homes, Sr. France joined one of her fellow sisters to the front lines.
Sister France quickly ended up offering spiritual care to patients, symbolically taking their pulse and measuring their morale throughout their stay, sometimes in isolation. She also connected the patients’ families with them, while experiencing in some degree the daily challenges of healthcare personnel. In this interview (dubbed in English), she shares an overview of her experiences and recounts how they helped her deepen her prayer life, her commitment as a consecrated person and her understanding of the community of Jerusalem’s charism.
This interview is taken from the Fall 2020 issue of the ad vitam webzine “Hope in Times of the Pandemic”.