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July 2008: A Visit with Sister Anila Christy, D.M. |
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It was a joy for us at the Mission Office to receive a visiting missionary on July 7 – Sister Anila Christy, D.M. Sister Anila is a member of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary in India. She was in Saint Louis for two mission appeals as part of the Missionary Cooperation Appeal Plan of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Sister Anila is truly an inspiration. She works with mentally ill women who are abandoned on the streets of the Kanyakumarid district in Tamilnadu, India. Describing this work, she wrote:
 “In Kanyakumari District we serve many mentally ill people who are begging and wandering through the streets. All are from different parts of India. The number of these people is increasing day by day. Through research we have found that since Kanyakumari is a religious and tourist center, the relatives of these people bring them from remote places and simply leave them in the streets of Kanyakumari (southern tip of India). They believe that if they die here, they could attain Moksha (Heaven). They beg for their living and sleep in the street corners, public parks, railway stations, and shop corridors. Their life ends in the street. No one is there to take care of them, or even to bury their dead bodies. The municipal workers put their dead bodies in the waste bin and burn it along with the waste. These are the shocking realities of these people…
Responding to the call of the time, we find that it is very urgent to give shelter to the mentally ill women, wandering through the streets, neglected and isolated by family and society…
“As we do not have a home for them yet, and as we are unable to neglect them we are accommodating some of these women in our Old Age Home, which is very difficult. There is an urgent need to have a separate shelter for these challenged women who suffer from mental illness.”
 Sister Anila has prepared a proposal for construction of a shelter for these mentally ill women. Through the mission appeals in various places, including the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, the funds donated will help with construction costs for this shelter.
The Daughters of Mary Congregation was founded in 1938 by an Indian missionary priest, Msgr. Joseph Kuzhinjalil. The main purpose of this Congregation is evangelization through personal contact with the poor.
Accompanying Sister Anila was Sister Mary, also a member of the Daughters of Mary Congregation.
The Missionary Cooperation Appeal Plan is a wonderful support for evangelization to over 70 dioceses and missionary congregations whom the Mission Office invites to make appeals in the parishes of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Meeting missionaries such as Sister Anila Christy, D.M. is truly inspiring.
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