Eulogy for Sister Judy Stephens
by Marcia Allen, CSJ
“Sometimes the needs of the people wear you out, but I’ve said to God, ‘I give You my life.’”
Quoted from Judy Stephens in “The El Paso Times,” Sunday, January 30, 1983, Page 2-C.
Judith Ann Stephens was born in Denver, Colorado, the first of 6 children to Elsie Suter and Robert Joseph Stephens. The family, Robert, Elsie, Judy, and Jeannie, moved in 1948 to the Suter ancestral farm in Gove County near Grinnell, Kansas. The farm had been homesteaded by Judy’s maternal grandfather in 1899. Judy’s mother and her 8 siblings were born on that farm, located south and west of Grinnell. Judy basically grew up on the farm. She did her share of chores and told stories of helping out in harvest time, driving the truck to the elevator in Grinnell. She loved the outdoors and the feel of the land. She attended grade and high school in Grinnell, then attended Marymount College in Salina, Kansas.
Following a retreat during her Freshman year, she wrote a letter to Reverend Mother Helena Robben, Superior General of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Concordia, KS. In her letter, Judy explained that she had never really had occasion to be around sisters much; however, once she came to know the sisters at Marymount College, she began to realize that in the midst of trying to decide on a career, there seemed to be but one satisfying answer. What she really desired was to spend her life serving God in others. Thus, she was writing to say that she would like to enter the Nazareth Convent in February of 1960. She explained that she preferred not to wait because she was worried that her intentions would be sidetracked during the summer. There is no recorded response to this letter; however, eventually Judy entered the community in September of 1960. We can only conclude that she made it through that worrisome summer!
She, with 15 other women, entered the novitiate on August 15, 1961, and was given the name Paul Michael. Her surviving peers are Sisters Carmella Thibault, Jodi Creten, Janis Wagner, and Marilyn Wall. Following her novitiate, she made temporary vows on August 15, 1962, and perpetual vows on August 15, 1967. Between her temporary and final professions, she spent one year at Marymount as a student, then was sent to St. Louis Parish school in Chicago, IL, where she taught the primary grades. After two years there, she was transferred to St. Mary’s Academy in Silver City, New Mexico, once more teaching the primary grades. Eventually, she earned a BA in Education from Marymount and an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Detroit in 1973. In 1976, she attended the Mini-Pastoral at the Mexican-American Cultural Center in San Antonio, TX. In 1978, she took a Spanish Language course at the Instituto International de las Americas in Saltillo, Mexico. In 1979, she petitioned the president of the Sisters of St. Joseph to send her to Las Palomas, Mexico, to minister to the desperately poor of that border area.
Judy left no Life Review as such. Culling through letters and newspaper articles about her, I happened across something about her in her own words. It was in a Blade-Empire newspaper article dated June 9, 2021. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of her life in the Community of St. Joseph, she wrote a summary of her life and what it had meant to her. I will quote directly from that article.
“Celebrating 60 years as a Sister of St. Joseph fills my heart with gratitude! Gratitude for so much – for my family of origin, my Sisters in Community, the many people I have met in ministry, and for this beautiful planet.
“In particular, I am grateful for the experience of living at Manna House of Prayer in Concordia when Sanctuary was declared in 1983. Refugees came, fleeing civil war in their countries in Central America. It became clear to me that God’s law surpasses human law; that in a nonviolent manner we can stand together against unjust human laws. And it can make a difference!”
Here, the quotation is interrupted to describe her background, information that she more than likely supplied. It reads: “Prior to her present ministry in the Peace and Justice Office of the Congregation, she taught in Chicago and Silver City, N.M; did a multi-parish religious education program with Sister Virginia Pearl in Clyde, Clifton, Clara, Washington and Morrowville, KS; was a member of the Initial Formation Team for the Congregation, Admission Counselor at Marymount College in Salina; did youth ministry in Bayard, Central and Hurley, NM; did pastoral ministry in Las Palomas, Chihuahua Mexico; worked at Manna House of Prayer in the Sanctuary Program; worked on ecological issues and organic food growth on a farm near Tescott, KS; worked with Catholic Charities of Salina, KS, Hispanic ministry and medical interpretation; and served on the Leadership Council for the Sisters of St. Joseph.”
Then she continues with her own narrative:
“My gratitude runs deep for the spiritual and theological education I have received throughout these years as a Sister. We have gathered many times to look at the urgent questions of our day: life issues for the unborn and the living children, a global pandemic, climate change and plastic pollution, racism, refugees, and children in detention. It’s hard work; it’s tiring, but we cannot turn away. It is God’s call to us today. And together – working with women religious across the U.S., we can make a difference.
“This calls me to sit in prayer each day, to search for the presence of God. To see the sky, the stars, the flowers, the face of a child. It calls me to face the crucial issues of today, to gather with others to pray, study, and discern – to decide what we can do. Sometimes our efforts are successful; sometimes we only know that we have done what we could. This makes living worthwhile and gives me peace. To know that God is with us as a human race, that grace and faith give us courage, and to humbly see what we can do. I am grateful.”
End of quote and end of article.
Judy Stephens. Who were you while you were among us? All we have are these many brief articles that testify to your very large 84 years as a person and the 64 years as a Sister of St. Joseph. What else do we know – by hearsay? by personal encounter? by friendship? by commitment to a common project? Some would say she was the valiant woman praised at the city gates. Others would say that she was the one who fulfilled the duties of a great and sincere love.
From various testimonies and written sources, we know that from 1983 until the day she died, Judy ministered among many Hispanic communities, particularly in Cloud and Saline Counties, through advocacy or direct service. In a very short essay, she described the beginning of this work in this way: “About two years ago, a young couple came into the Justice and Peace Office [in Salina] with their young daughter. They quietly asked if I would accompany them to their doctor’s appointment as a translator. Not knowing what I was getting into, I said that I would. My knowledge of Spanish, while not fluent, would be enough to facilitate the appointment. That simple initiation seemed to open a new chapter in my life history and expand a dimension of the Justice and Peace ministry as well.” And, indeed, it did!
As Judy lay unconscious in the emergency room of the Central Kansas Healthcare Center in Concordia Saturday night, December 13, the fruitfulness of those years was revealed in the testimony of the medical assistant, Nurse Practitioner, who attended her. She exclaimed, “Of course, I know Judy! Together, we delivered hundreds of babies when we worked in Salina.” From 1983 on, her focus was principally on women and women with children – women, pregnant, in labor, post-birth, and often following through early childhood, accompanying mothers in well-child check-ups, immunizations, WIC appointments, serious illnesses, and much more. Judy was present to them, persistent with medical professionals on their behalf, and above all, proficient in getting them the kinds of help they needed as they made their way through the labyrinthine ways of the medical system as persons without language, often without any kind of insurance, and always without the significant companionship of another woman who could help them find their way. Judy was fiercely dedicated to their welfare.
And yet, this ministry was just one piece of a whole vision that Judy held close to her heart. She yearned for a whole earth – an earth founded on justice for all – all creatures, no matter how insignificant or sophisticated. She carried signs when necessary, stood with protesters, spoke to elected officials, wrote letters to them as well as to the local newspaper editors. An example of this was contained in one significant packet of letters between her, Kansas legislators, and the governor of Kansas. She doggedly advocated for a four-lane highway between Salina and Concordia, citing the tragic death of Sister Veronica Roy as one graphic example of why the project should be undertaken. The last letter is from the governor thanking her for her persistent encouragement in the accomplishment of a four-lane highway between the two cities. Judy could be counted on to stand firm for values in which she believed.
She was the most gently fierce person most of us have ever known. We can only believe that her intense work for those in need or who suffered needlessly at the hands of others came from fervent prayer. That she prayed, she herself testified; yet, her actions spoke louder than her words. Judy was real. She was practical. She was a pragmatic activist in the best sense of those words. In this, she was a leader by always going first. And yet, her influence was subtle. She seemed to have never raised her voice, was steadily working undercover, as it were, toward just ends in the environmental issues, in anti-war issues, in anti-gun violence issues. In all the issues that have captured our communal attention in our post-modern world, Judy worked steadily, quietly, and sometimes very effectively, but never without hope. She carried about within her an invisible fecundity which we witnessed in her works and their results. Judy was someone we could all count on. She leaves a great, empty void in all the service offered and more – a great hole in our hearts.
In August, Judy suffered a fall that took her to the hospital for tests. The results of the tests revealed that she had an aneurysm in her brain that was not a result of her fall. It was a large one and a serious health threat. Judy declined the invitation to get it fixed. She said, in effect, that at nearly 84 years old, she didn’t see the need for extraordinary health maintenance. This was a very brave decision, yet typical. In the few short months since August, she stayed focused, carrying on with the various projects she had on her plate, attending meetings, accompanying people for translation and other needs, responding in practical ways as usual. Most of us forgot about the life-threat she carried within. On the day the aneurysm burst, Saturday, December 13, she did what she had intended to do: help decorate South Mound home for Christmas, then set up the Church and hall for the Sunday Guadelupe celebration. Oh yes, she also gave her friend Pascual guitar lessons in preparation for that celebration! In other words, she was focused on what she loved most – those she loved.
It seems to me that Judy’s particular gift – grace – was to transform an idea or an ideal into a practical, down-to-earth word and action that was completely place and time appropriate. This was not an insensitive or utilitarian response to need. Rather, it came from her heart. It was an utterly compassionate and selfless response that put her people before her personal concerns. This was her expression of the apostolic life to which she was committed as a Sister of St. Joseph.
Judy. Thank you, Judy, for your years, months, days, and hours given to all of us – from planet Earth, to women and women with children, to your family, and to your sisters here in the St. Joseph community. Words cannot describe how we loved you and how we will miss you. Words cannot describe our gratitude to you and for you.
Thank you, God, for Judy Stephens. Thank you for her family, into which she was born, and who raised her up to be such a magnificent, if not quite mature human being, then giving her to the world through this Community of St. Joseph. And, thank you, Judy, for loving us. Thank you for being what all of us would hope to be – absolutely Christian; and, for your Sisters in Community, you were an exceptional Sister of St. Joseph who quite clearly loved God in every sort of neighbor. May you now experience fully the God for whom you yearned!