Sister Dorothy's Story, as told by Sister Judi Clemens, SNDdeN

Sister Dorothy's Story, as told by Sister Judi Clemens, SNDdeN

In a meaningful gathering at the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer MidYear Conference, Sister Judi Clemens, SNDdeN shared her thoughts following a screening of "The Student, The Nun and the Amazon." Sister Judi recounted the powerful story of Sister Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN, whose life embodied the congregation's commitment to serving where others may not choose to go.

The Beginning of Her Mission

[Question from the audience]

"Why did she originally go so many years ago? What was her motivation? What was the thing that really made her go from here to there?"

Dorothy went in the second group of our Sisters after we were invited by a bishop to the state of Maranhão. We had wonderful formation for four months before going to Maranhão. What we learned there was the way to work with the people—you ask them, you get to know them. That's how we all began.

In Maranhão, the majority of our farm people were tenant farmers. They had no right to the land. They had landowners who charged them for everything. When the migration began, many of our people moved to the next state to the west, which was Pará. Dorothy simply followed her people.

The first place in Pará they began, everything was fine. Then the landowners came and shoved the people away again. She just accompanied them. That was how she heard the call to be a presence among those people.

Her Final Days

Dorothy and the farm workers were living in a sustainable development project which was federally designated—they didn't just move into that area. The federal government had mapped out a designated area for sustainable development.

Dorothy's whole focus was teaching them about cash crops. As she would say, you can't live only on beans and rice—you need kerosene, salt, sugar, and other necessities. She taught them to plant cacao (for chocolate) and black pepper, which were very good crops for that area.

On her final day, Dorothy had been with the people the night before, arriving on Friday. They had two objectives: to help a family in need and to learn about cash crops. A rancher from the neighboring lots, driven by greed, had begun threatening residents and had burned down the home of Luis and his family. The group brought food and clothing for Luis's family, and they had brought an agronomist to teach them about cash crops that Saturday.

Her Last Moments

That rainy, dark Saturday morning, Dorothy was walking to the meeting place. She stopped at Cicero's house and asked, "Are you coming?" He replied that he would be just a few minutes behind her. So she walked alone.

The two hired gunmen who confronted her had actually been at the community gathering the night before. Dorothy, not knowing their intentions, had engaged with them, even inviting them to join the community where they could have stability for their family and future.

When they confronted her on the road, they questioned her about her cloth bag, which contained only her Bible and maps—she was extremely intelligent and knew the land perfectly. When they accused her of carrying weapons, she reached in and held up her Bible, saying, "This is what I defend." She began to read the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." That's when they shot her.

After Her Death

She lay on that muddy road for hours—Esperanza, where she was killed, was about 60km from Anapu, where she lived. As Sister Judi reflects, "For me personally, I just have this magnificent image: The land that she so loved in her life, she laid down and kissed it, and that's how she died."

A brave woman approached Dorothy's body when others were afraid because the gunmen might still be nearby. In what would become an iconic photograph published in a magazine similar to Newsweek, there's a white hat above Dorothy's head. The story behind it is touching—this woman had exchanged her own white hat for Dorothy's hat. She later gave Dorothy's hat to the Sisters, and it's now among their treasures in Cincinnati, along with the bloodstained cloth that was shown at the funeral.

These artifacts symbolize how deeply the people cared for Dorothy and preserve the memory of her dedication to their cause.