A convent in Michigan lost more than a dozen sisters to COVID-19, in just one month beginning April 10, which was Good Friday, the Christian holy day.
A total of 13 nuns, one-fifth the population of the Felician Sisters Convent in Livonia, Michigan, prior to the pandemic, have died — the last of whom initially recovered from the virus, only to succumb to its complications in late June. Now, the sacred 360-acre estate outside Detroit is down to 52 sisters.
The victims were between 69 and 99, CNN reported, and each had pledged to serve in different areas of need, such as education or at-risk children, according to their obituaries. Among their many accomplishments, one sister wrote a book on the history of the convent, while another was assigned to the Felician Generalate in Rome twice and also worked as a secretary at the Vatican Secretariat of State.
The Global Sisters Report, a nonprofit Catholic news site, wrote that the tragedy “may be the worst loss of life to a community of religious women” in the past century.
“The faith we share with sisters as they are dying, the prayers we share with sisters as they are dying: We missed all that. It kind of shattered our faith life a little bit,” said Sister Joyce Marie Van de Vyver.
Current social-distancing measures prevented most sisters from being able to attend funerals of their peers, nor were they permitted to gather in groups for prayer. They may not visit each others’ quarters. But, as of July 6, they may now dine up to two per table.
“I get chills thinking about that,” Sister Mary Andrew Budinski, the superior of the Livonia convent, told Global Sisters Report. “The raw grief is yet to come, I think.”
Visitors have been strictly prohibited since March 14, however certain outside staffers were necessary for the convent’s upkeep, including nurses who care for sick and elderly sisters in the assisted living wings. That’s where the outbreak reportedly took hold and tore through “like wildfire.”
“I first heard two aides had contracted the virus,” said Sister Mary Andrew. “We don’t know who they are, and we don’t want to know.”
A number of significant outbreaks in the US have been traced back to religious gatherings. In March, a choir group in Washington lost two of its 121 members, after 45 of their singers became ill with the coronavirus following a 60-strong rehearsal, which was not socially distanced. In May, a church in Arkansas was the source of another cluster of cases, wherein just two worshippers infected 35 in their congregation; three later died. A Virginia pastor who defiantly opened his church doors during the pandemic in March died of COVID-19 less than a month later.
In all of these outbreaks, face masks and social distancing were not being used. Erin Bromage, Ph.D. a biologist at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, warned The Post that circumstances such as these can be a death trap when dealing with a respiratory, airborne disease. At the time, he estimated that some “90% of all transmission events” can be blamed on indoor settings wherein people are known to gather “closely spaced, with lots of talking, singing or yelling,” he said.
The Felician Convent of Livonia has said goodbye to the following sisters:
Sister Mary Luiza Wawrzyniak, 99
Sister Celine Marie Lesinski, 92
Sister Mary Estelle Printz, 95
Sister Thomas Marie Wadowski, 73
Sister Mary Patricia Pyszynski, 93
Sister Mary Clarence (Adeline) Borkoski, 83
Sister Rose Mary Wolak, 86
Sister Mary Janice (Margaret) Zolkowski, 86
Sister Mary Alice Ann (Fernanda) Gradowski, 73
Sister Victoria Marie Indyk, 69
Sister Mary Martinez (Virginia) Rozek, 87
Sister Mary Madeleine (Frances) Dolan, 82
Sister Mary Danatha (Lottie) Suchyta, 98