Sister Marianeldis’ "three missions", 50 years in the service of Taiwan’s poor
Taipei (AsiaNews) - Of German origin, Sister Marianeldis Loewe (呂薇 修女) worked for 15 years with the Taiwan Lourdes Association, ( 社團法人 台灣 露 德 協會). She is very tenacious and has no difficulties in saying exactly what she thinks. It is in fact this strength that testifies to the courage that comes from a life of suffering and contact with the marginalized. To understand her secret, in the fight for the rights of marginalized, we must begin with her life’s story.
"I was born in Silesia 84 years ago, in 1931, in a village that is now part of Poland. I am the second child in my family, I have an older brother and two younger sisters. My father was a prisoner of war of the Russians for four years, my mother with four children had to flee and take refuge in Bavaria in order to survive".
The family was helped by her father’s sister, a nun, who "called us from her convent in north West Germany, and helped us find a home and care, after the war. These were the years of reconstruction. After a period of misery, the family was once again united. My father, whom we had believed lost at war, returned to the family and we started a normal life".
At what point did she first realize her religious vocation? "The example of my aunt was crucial. When we lived in Bavaria and she contacted us, and invited us to go north, but we did not even have money for a ticket, let alone for 5 tickets. It was her persistence, she did not give up, she spread the word and collected the money. They came to tell us that there were five seats available, already paid on the train to the north of Germany. I was 17 years old. When I met my aunt, a sister of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, (聖神 婢女 傳教 會), I developed my vocation to religious life. She never said anything to me, one day I expressed my desire and she simply replied: 'Watching you, I had an intuition'. All the suffering we endured because of the war marked my vocation. I felt called to serve the poor and the sick".
"In 1962 I was sent to Taiwan. We set sail from Naples, we made a stopover in Hong Kong and then we arrived on this island where I have remained until today. My first mission was in Hsinchu (新竹市), one hour from Taipei, where I worked with the poor on the outskirts of the city. There were many older people, especially the sick, alone and abandoned. I was trained as a nurse and I felt I had to stay with them, that I was capable of helping them. Then I was sent to Geelong (基隆市), where I continued to work for the marginalized. I did not proselytize, but remember that many sick literally clinging to the cross I wear around my neck: 'I need Jesus, I need your strength!' Many repeated. They demanded baptism".
Then came a "second mission", one that "cost me more trouble to accept. I was put in charge of our youth hostel for young students of the Catholic University Fujen (輔仁 大學). I thought about it for three months, since the superior called me to propose it. I did not feel called to that: there were 650 young people in the university hostel, they were in need of material, moral and spiritual assistance. The superior convinced me: at the beginning I found it very challenging, then I discovered that these girls simply needed someone to rely on, to encourage them. It was very important to be with them, to share in their growth.
In those years, Taiwan changed from a poor society to an industrial and technological society. And in this transformation "other problems came to light. The spread of HIV is one of these. The prejudices within the ecclesial community at the beginning were very strong. But we have some intelligent guides, thank God. One of these is the archbishop of Taipei, Msgr. John Hung Shan-chuan (洪山川 總 主教) who belongs to the congregation of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD, 聖言 會), whose founder, Arnold Janssen (楊 生 神父), was also the founder of our female congregation, the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit. It was in a homily of the then future archbishop, that I found my 'third mission' for people who had AIDS or were HIV-positive".
The Taiwan Lourdes Association, which deals with people with AIDS, "is a fantastic thing, capable of reaching out to the most marginalized. I'm very happy for the fact that after retired I have the opportunity to participate in this service. I'm older and I offer my presence, this is what I am asked to do, because often there is a greater need for moral support than material help, especially when working in an environment in which people are victims of so-called self-righteous judgments" .
The sister concludes, "I always say that God does not judge you, He always gives His help, so in the end it is you who judge yourself. Also another point we insist on, for those who cannot forgive (and this is a more widespread problem than it seems) is that everyone has a good inside them. This comes from knowing how to welcome others. This is the key to our mission, this what I felt when I was a child, when I had to flee with my family because of the war. And for all the gifts that I have received along the way, I thank the Lord".
.png)
