The American nun known for her defense of the Amazon is being remembered.
According to Fides, the last week of July, a pilgrimage was organized to remember Sister Dorothy Stang, murdered ten years ago. Sister Stang was known for her defense of the Amazon rainforest.
Father Anthony Claret, who participated in the mission of a group of the Archdiocese of Mariana, Brazil, located in the heart of the Amazon, said, “Sister Dorothy is present through the struggle of the people. These are people of faith who seek to organize and live the same continuous struggle.”
“For us who come from the Archdiocese of Mariana,” he said, “that is a great inspiration.”
Born in Ohio, Dorothy Stang, would become a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. On Feb. 12, 2005, the nun was shot several times while traveling to meet officials from the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform. For more than two decades, she had worked on behalf of poor farmers in Brazil’s Para state, and had received death threats since 1999.
Marking the 10th pilgrimage in memory of late Sister Stang, twenty-two people, including priests and lay people, participated in the 55 km journey which lasted 15 days in the Prelature of Xingu, in the area of Pará.
With the theme “The seed planted germinates: we are Sister Dorothy,” the three words to guide the pilgrimage were hope, memory, and commitment. (D.C.L.)
