ANSWERING THE CALL It was the coldest day of January 2019 when the call came in at 4:30 p.m.
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The pipes in the sprinkler system at the Benedictine Motherhouse in the North Hills of Pittsburgh had frozen and burst. Water was pouring down the walls in sheets through electrical outlets … six feet of water filled rooms and hallways. Sisters had to quickly evacuate. Where to go? The President of that Congregation made one phone call, “Our home is flooding, we have to evacuate.” Corrine Giel, SCN, answered the call at St. Louise Convent, “Stay here.”
the year.” The Sisters at St. Louise didn’t think twice when the request came. Both Congregations looked to St. Vincent in this time of need and his words, “Do what’s before you.” Within the hour, Sisters at St. Louise welcomed those displaced, assigning rooms, offering food, and dispatching a volunteer to get dozens of toothbrushes and other necessities, left behind. The water was rising too fast. Water mixed with electricity was a dangerous combination.
Karen Brink, OSB, recalls that most of her Sisters did not even have coats that January day. It was so dangerous inside their convent, they couldn't go back in to get one, “It was one of the worst nights of
As Benedictine Sisters arrived by car and ambulance, they were escorted to the dining room. A hot meal awaited them, blankets, coats, other clothes, and kind words. “We felt at home the minute we
SIS TERS OF CHARIT Y OF NA Z ARE TH • VOL . I 2020
S C N FA M I LY.O R G
