People Of Faith
This month’s People of Faith features Mary Bell, an 82-year-old Holy Redeemer parishioner who has also been the parish sacristan for the past 10 years. She says “There’s nothing today that the good Lord and I can’t handle.” See what else she says.
Number of children, grandchildren: Five children, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren. Lived in New Jersey and Florida before moving to Evansville in 1966.
Occupation: Retired from Deaconess housekeeping, where upon request she would pray with the patients and their families. She was hesitant about working in a hospital because she had been a patient so often. However, she prayed about it and “I know the Lord put me in that hospital.”
When you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up? “Wherever the Lord put me.”
Who or what has had the biggest impact on your life? Her Irish immigrant parents who “lived their faith” and taught her to do the same. She grew up with the values for taking care of the church.
Who do you consider to be the best role models today? “Father Paul (Ferguson, pastor at Holy Redeemer). He’s very humble. Thinks more of others than himself. He’s always listening and helping. He’s there for everybody.”
Describe how your faith helped you through a difficult time in your life? She says, “I’ve never known a day when I didn’t know the Lord.” It took a charismatic renewal in the 1970s for her to learn the power of the Holy Spirit within our lives. “Your whole life changes.”
What do you like most about being Catholic? “I know it’s the true faith, the most powerful gift I have in my life … to know what I have and to live it”
Of those things that are possible to change in the Catholic Church, what would you change? She would like to see a return to the Communion railing. Also as part of the pro-life theme, she would like to see an emphasis on the “Blessing for Expectant Mothers. We were always then taught to go back and give thanks.”
If you could make one change in your community, what would it be? Says our “rights as Christians are being taken away from us” and it must stop.
Any regrets in life? “No true regrets.” Says her life has been “blessed with the things I needed. Thankful for what I have.”
Tell us a few more things about yourself. She especially enjoyed traveling to Rome, Lourdes and Fatima. Says “Lourdes is special. You feel the power of the Blessed Mother.” She also likes to read Scott Hahn and Christian magazines. Hahn is a popular author, speaker, apologist and Bible scholar.
What do you do in your spiritual life that you would recommend to others? She lives by “nothing is impossible with God.” As sacristan she gets a special joy out of “taking care of the things of the church.” She’s happy she has the health and ability to do it.
