Johnny Harris, a patient of Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, visits with Sr. Margaret Sergon at the hospital. She provided a healing presence during a hospitalization after he had a stroke in January. Sr. Sergon is one of five Little Sisters of St. Francis who work at the hospital. Courtesy Saint Francis Medical Center.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Missouri — When Johnny Harris was hospitalized in January at Saint Francis Medical Center here after a stroke, he initially found himself very agitated and distressed as he lay in his hospital bed.
But, then, Sr. Margaret Sergon came into his room to visit him and "a sense of calm came over me," he recalls. Sr. Sergon talked with him and prayed with him.
Harris says that Sr. Sergon was a caring presence at a very scary time.
Bringing comfort to patients as Sr. Sergon did for Harris is the type of impact that the southeast Missouri Catholic hospital and the Little Sisters of St. Francis congregation in Africa were envisioning when they partnered two years ago on a unique type of mission program. Under their arrangement, Saint Francis hires Little Sisters from Africa for various jobs. Those sisters provide a pastoral presence that goes well beyond their formal jobs. And the sisters send a portion of their salaries back to their congregation to fund ministries in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
"Having the Little Sisters with us is a blessing," says Gerry Salter, Saint Francis vice president of specialty practices. "Their presence, prayerful approach to their day, and the joy they bring to those they encounter contributes to how care is delivered at Saint Francis."
Transatlantic connection
Saint Francis is a 306-bed stand-alone hospital founded in 1875 by three Franciscan Sisters. Saint Francis employs about 3,000 people. Its catchment area spans 29 counties in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.
The Little Sisters of St. Francis were founded in Uganda in 1923 by Mother Mary Kevin Kearney, an Irish missionary who was with the Franciscan Sisters of St. Mary's Abbey in Mill Hill, London. She is in a stage known as "Servant of God" in the canonization process. There are now about 800 Little Sisters. The congregation's motherhouse is in Nkokonjeru in the Buikwe district in central Uganda. The Little Sisters have education, social work and health care ministries. They operate and work in hospitals, clinics, orphanages and schools throughout Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Salter says the relationship between Saint Francis hospital and the African congregation came as a result of what he says was a "providential meeting" he had in 2022 with one of the Little Sisters. That encounter led to discussions between him and Superior General Mother Rita Christine Nakitende about how the hospital and congregation could work together.
Funds for ministries
It is a priority for the congregation that the sisters pursue higher education. It is not uncommon for them to earn postgraduate degrees, usually in Africa or the United States. The congregation then arranges for sisters to work in one of the congregation's missions, including sometimes through work in the United States or Germany. All the Little Sisters working abroad pool a portion of their earnings and send that contribution every three months to their congregation to fund Little Sisters ministries.
Salter and Mother Nakitende decided to make Saint Francis one of the U.S. locations where the sisters work, and since August 2022 multiple Little Sisters have joined the hospital in various roles. Currently, five Little Sisters work at the hospital: Sr. Sergon as a spiritual care minister; Sr. Julian A. Oyoo as an accountant in finance; Sr. Evalyne Ekesa as a counselor in the psychology department; and Srs. Cecilia Akol and Madrine Mukaluziga as spiritual care ministers. The five live in the on-campus convent that the Franciscan Sisters had once called home.
Salter notes that until the Little Sisters came, it had been more than 30 years since the last sister who worked at the hospital retired. While the Little Sisters are part of a different congregation than the one that founded Saint Francis, both share the Franciscan heritage. Deacon Tony Peters, a spiritual care minister in Saint Francis' mission integration department, says the sisters' presence now "serves as a constant reminder of Saint Francis' spiritual foundation. They not only provide hands-on support but also offer spiritual guidance to both staff and patients."
Culture shock
All five Little Sisters had gone to college or university or had worked at facilities in other U.S. cities prior to their arrival in Cape Girardeau. Some had done both.
Sr. Madrine Mukaluziga visits with Germaine Monroe Legrand at Saint Francis. Courtesy Saint Francis Medical Center.
Each recalls a "culture shock" of sorts when they came to the Unites States. Sr. Sergon says in her first weekend in the states she wanted to return home because she missed the food there so much. She quickly learned where to find the food she was accustomed to. Also, while living in Wisconsin, she experienced a brutal winter, unlike any in Africa. Sr. Mukaluziga has had trouble adjusting to Midwestern humidity. Sr. Akol found it challenging to understand the fast-talking professors when she studied in New Jersey. Srs. Ekesa and Oyoo found the university environment in the U.S. to be very different from that in Africa. In the U.S., professors and students interact on a personal level, and there is more flexibility in how assignments are completed. Whereas in Africa, large, impersonal lecture formats were the norm.
And there are more profound differences. In her native Kenya, Sr. Sergon says, it is taboo to be physically near a dying person. It has been an adjustment to now, in line with the practice at Saint Francis, be physically present to the dying, including holding their hand while praying with them.
'Love at first sight'
The sisters say they've been welcomed warmly into the Saint Francis hospital and Cape Girardeau communities.
Sr. Mukaluziga says, "I've been to several hospitals in the U.S., and at Saint Francis, you can feel it is very different, it's a totally different environment. Everyone has been so welcoming to me. It's been love at first sight for me."
"It's been like a home away from home," she says.
The sisters wear traditional habits, and Sr. Akol says initially people were almost shocked to see "real nuns" at the hospital and she sensed some felt unsure of themselves when talking to her, but now she says people are so comfortable with her and the other sisters that they feel free to be themselves. "And, they've also discovered some of us can be troublemakers," she laughs.
Sr. Ekesa says the sisters have become such a fixture in the community that even when they are running errands at the store people feel comfortable stopping them to ask them for prayers.
Patient Ray Bollinger speaks with Sr. Sergon at Saint Francis. Courtesy Saint Francis Medical Center.
Compassionate presence
Though the sisters' jobs are with various departments at Saint Francis, they all are considered part of the pastoral care department, which also includes priests, deacons and lay ministers. Like the other team members, it is usual for the sisters to round the units to visit with staff, patients and patients' loved ones. The sisters also are among the hundreds of volunteers from throughout the community who participate in the hospital's perpetual adoration program. Those volunteers take turns praying in the chapel on a continual basis for the people the hospital serves.
Sr. Cecilia Akol chats with Saint Francis colleague Abbi Brown at the medical center. Courtesy Saint Francis Medical Center.Sr. Mukaluziga says working at Saint Francis is aligned completely with the Little Sisters' mission, to focus on care of the sick and marginalized. "We are fulfilling our charism here," she says.
She notes that the calling extends to colleagues, who commonly stop the sisters in the hallways. She says, "they pour out their feelings to us, and they feel so much better."
And, Sr. Sergon says, it is part of that calling to "selflessly give our best. So we also reach out on weekends and go out in the community," including checking in on discharged patients, visiting people in nursing homes and attending funerals.
Greg Heinsman, a Saint Francis spiritual care minister, says he has witnessed the sisters' impactful work with patients and their loved ones, and he says it is furthering the mission of Saint Francis in a powerful way. He says, "Theirs is a very loving, compassionate presence."
Visit chausa.org/chw to learn about a similar program called "Missionaries to Iowa" at St. Anthony Nursing Home in Carroll, Iowa. Through that program that began more than 20 years ago, sisters come to work at the nursing home from African and India. Currently 11 sisters serve at St. Anthony through the program.