The Chair is Empty
(Reflections on the El Salvador Mission, Glen Campbell)

This chair sits on the edge of a small wooden dock, which sits on the edge of Lake Washington, whose waves lap up against the edge of the back yard at St. Mary's, the province residence in Bellevue for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.

I've wondered why I don't see Sr. Eleanor Gilmore in this chair.  She certainly deserves the rest -- a partial biography of her life and career includes the following:

• BA in Sociology from Seattle University.
• Diploma in Nursing at Sacred Heart School of Nursing, Eugene
• Masters of Hospital Administration from St. Louis University, Missouri
• Sabbatical year at Berkeley for a Certificate of Theological Studies
• Operating Supervisor at Sacred Heart, Eugene, 1963
• Year residency in Boston
• Administration of St. John, Hospital, Longview, twice between the years of 1967-1982
• Four years at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Congregation Office in Washington, DC
• Five years as Province Leader in Bellevue
• Five years in a Jesuit Refugee Service health program in El Salvador
• Director of Values Integration, PeaceHealth.  Design and integrate mission and values components into all possible levels of organizational decision-making and programs, 1993 - 2000.
• Corporate Board of PeaceHealth
• Boards of the PeaceHealth Lower Columbia Region, Mercy Healthcare System, Roseburg, OR

For crying out loud, this woman deserves a break!  She not only should be sipping an iced tea in a comfortable chair by the edge of a lake, someone should be bringing it to her!  Yet still the chair is empty.

Where is this Sr. Eleanor Gilmore?

Well, at a time when most of us would be enjoying our retirement, and looking forward to the slow paced days of our twilight years, Sr. Eleanor has instead founded a mission in El Salvador.  She has journeyed to an impoverished land, a land with no 'healthcare system' as we're accustomed to in the United States.  A place where healthcare is so scarce that it's looked upon as a privilege, not a right.  A place where the human touch can make a big difference.  A place where planning and strategy are replaced by action and doing.  A place where a mission expands.

Can you picture a pair Sisters sitting on this bench, enjoying the view as a slight breeze whispers through the trees?  Reflecting on their sacred, holy mission -- a mission born from heavenly places.  But also looking out across the lake at the city skyline, and thinking about how that mission can be manifested in this earthly place--the real world.  Thinking of ways to navigate our human systems to most effectively bring their mission to life.

It strikes me that they're not sitting around ruminating on these things -- they seem to have gotten up to do something about it.  

And, what drives other people at PeaceHealth to join her?

I have no answers to these questions -- at least not yet.  But part of the mystery of this mission is to scratch under the surface and attempt to discover what makes up the soul of PeaceHealth.  What is it that causes its restlessness, its never-ending struggle to stay active.  What brought those Sisters from Ireland to America?  What brought them to the Northwest in 1891?  What parallels can we draw from the activities of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1891, and those of Sr. Eleanor, Sr. Grace, and others in the 21st century?  Are the words of Sister Margaret Anna Cusack a historical artifact, or do they continue to breathe life into PeaceHealth and the world:

From what he said, I saw there was a grand opening for a new religious order like ours. I knew that neither the distance nor the poverty would hinder our sisters from going. On the contrary, we have always preferred poor and destitute places that others would refuse. I hoped, indeed, that this mission was so remote from New York that it would not be possible for me to be followed there by ecclesiastical persecution. I even hoped that if the proposal was heard of, it would not be opposed as the distance was so great, and that archbishop Corrigan would be glad to have me so far away. If I could not be allowed to have a little spot of land on the Hudson, I hoped I might be permitted to work for the church in this lonely and distant territory.

Trouble was our business and our privilege when it comes to helping the poor.

I do not believe in offering the gospel of talk to starving people.

The object of the institute is, as it's name implies, to promote the peace of the church, both by word and work. The very name, Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace will, it is hoped, inspire the desire of peace and a love for it.

As long as your Christianity is merely theoretical, they are all very well pleased with you, but once they find you are practical in carrying it out, they part company from you, angrily or scornfully, as their dispositions incline them.

They took up the cry that I was interfering in politics! God help me, all the politics I cared for was to feed the hungry. It seems to me, however, it was not a question of politics; it was a question of humanity.

I'm privileged to be joining a brigade of 8-10 medical professionals in El Salvador in April, 2002.  While not a clinician, I'll be joining the group to take pictures, record events, document the mission in action, and to write stories to share with PeaceHealth.