What's Happening

October 20, 2022, Fort Lauderdale, Florida – If you want to die well, make peace with yourself, with God, and with your past.

That is the message that Sister Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, OP, has for people in the United States – especially for the many people who try to deny or ignore the reality of death. Sister Xiomara recently spoke to U.S. Catholic about her experience as a chaplain at Loyola University Medical Center outside of Chicago during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is now a chaplain at Holy Cross Hospital-Trinity Health in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

In the interview, Sister Xiomara recalled the experience of the first death of COVID-19 at Loyola University Medical Center – and of the multiple deaths that the chaplains, doctors, and nurses witnessed during the early weeks of the pandemic. “In less than three months, we had more than 500 deaths,” she said. “Every single day we accompanied families by phone. We were beyond exhausted.” 

Sister Xiomara said the chaplains not only accompanied the patients and their families, but also the “whole team” of health care professionals and those who helped them, such as the people who cleaned the hospital rooms. “That resiliency and collaboration helped us prevent burnout and keep going,” she said.

Sister Xiomara said that the experience of death of the patient and the families depends on the circumstances and on the culture of the people involved. Sister Xiomara was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, a community-oriented society with close families and communities. “For us, death is part of life,” she said. In the United States, “many people live in denial, but the truth is: if you are alive, you will die.”

As a chaplain, Sister Xiomara has advice on how to think about death. “Try to make peace with yourself first,” she said. “Then make your peace with God.” She pointed to the importance of living a good life to prepare for death. “I think the important thing is to live life in the present and be the best human being you can be,” she said. “Try to live in peace, to make peace, to build peace, and to live authentically. Try to do things that give life. That is all you can take with you.”

Read the entire interview, published in the November 2022 issue of U.S. Catholic, Vol. 87, No. 11.

October 12, 2022, Seattle, Washington – Mercy Housing Northwest, based in Seattle, is celebrating 30 years of making a difference in the lives of individuals and families by offering them access to affordable housing.

Sister Judy Byron, OP

Mercy Housing Northwest began in 1990 with a meeting of 80 Sisters who wanted to address the issue of homelessness – especially when they learned that nearly a third of the people in the area who were homeless were children. The Edmonds Dominican Sisters – who merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2003 – were among four of the original founding communities in the Seattle area who started the organization that became Mercy Housing Northwest.

“To me, the best part is the kids,” Sister Judy Byron, OP, told The Northwest Catholic, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Seattle. “If we could give kids a stable home, they could have a good life.” 

Most of the housing properties operated by Mercy Housing Northwest give additional help to families through services such as housing and financial stability, health and wellness, out-of-school programming for the children, and community involvement – which are “the anchors for the folks [who] live there,” Sister Judy said.

Read the entire article by Brenda Sexton in The Northwest Catholic. 

Feature photo: An architect’s rendering of Cedar Crossing, a 254-apartment housing development through a partnership between Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing Northwest. Photo Courtesy of Mercy Housing Northwest