Egan sisters have influenced the world

Eileen Egan, co-founder of Pax Christi USA, author, close friend of Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa, and longtime Catholic Relief Services worker, said her mother was an important role model for the Egan children. "Without her saying it, I knew she was against any violence," Miss Egan said. "Mother had strong convictions against violence."

Miss Egan's sister, Mabel Gil, a parishioner of St. Patrick's Church in Albany, also felt her mother's influence. "My mother taught us about social action," she said. "During the Depression, she put a small table and chair out for hungry persons. That's where we learned -- from her. From her, we got this sense of social justice."

Helping others

She said her mother provided the example of serving others despite the family's own needs. Their mother, an immigrant, was widowed shortly after coming to the United States and left to raise six children on her own.

"For me, food, clothing and shelter were part of religion," Mrs. Gil said.

Faith's role

"We had a Baptist chapel, a Methodist chapel and an Anglican church," Miss Egan said. So Catholicism was kept alive in the home by their parents. Benedictine Sister Kathleen Egan said, "My mother was very pious."

While the children sang in the Baptist choir and participated in the activities of the other denominations, they knew they were Catholic.

Boat and train

Not only did Miss Egan travel to make her First Communion, she also took a train to school. At 11, she received a scholarship to the public high school. It was rare for a girl to receive this prize and attending high school meant she was already on track to go to college.

"My parents were concerned about education," she said. "To go to school, I had to go into the valley by train." Her first day, she said, "was one of the proudest days of my life. I remember the school blazer with it's crest. In Welsh, it said: 'The best weapon is the weapon of learning.'"

When the family came to the United States, all of the children were enrolled in Catholic schools.

Influence

Sister Kathleen is the author of several books, collaborated with her sister on several others, taught at Mt. St. Scholastica College and Benedictine College (both in Atchison, Kansas), and currently chairs Benedictines for Peace.

Mrs. Gil, while with the Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition, worked on sustenance agriculture, promoted community gardens and secured the labeling of milk containing BHT. (Their brother, Brother John Mark Egan, CFC, founded the Institute for Pastoral Counseling. He died in 1978.)

Family circle

The sisters are there for one another. "We support each other in all things," Sister Kathleen said. "It's always been like that."

Mrs. Gil agreed, saying, "When I was seven years old, my father died. When I was 12, my mother died. We were orphans and immigrants, but we had one another."

Learning peace

"We had our arguments," she said. "We weren't supposed to chide or fight."

Sister Kathleen remembers that if they did begin to argue with one another, their mother reminded them with poems or quotations that they weren't to fight, and soon the argument would be forgotten.

War and Jesus

Justified warfare, she writes, allowed every war in history to claim divine approval. The book goes on to show the spirituality and theology of peace.

While Miss Egan learned the importance of nonviolence at home, the message was reinforced while she worked for Catholic Relief Services and saw first-hand the effects of war.

"Having seen what war has done, [I know] we are supposed to live as Christians by the Sermon on the Mount and by the Works of Mercy," she said. "In war, instead of feeding the hungry, we destroy the fields that supply the grain. Instead of clothing the naked, we destroy the factories where clothing is made. All of the Works of Mercy are reversed."

Effect on Church

While 19 women fasted so that the Holy Spirit would guide the proceedings, Miss Egan "went from cardinal to cardinal. In the end, in the statement the bishops made, they validated the right to conscientious objection."

Miss Egan's sisters are not surprised by the impact she made. "Eileen went to school at three years and eight months, and was a reader," Sister Kathleen said. "She was always a leader in thought. It surprises me not at all."

Mrs. Gil agreed saying, "The eldest is the leader. The leadership role is her destiny."

Knowing a saint

"Mother Teresa could have chosen anyone to walk with her, and she chose Eileen," Mrs. Gil said.

When Brother John Mark traveled to Calcutta, the first person he met was Mother Teresa. When he asked that she remember the family in prayer, Mother Teresa listed every member of the Egan family and said she prayed for them daily. According to Mrs. Gil, Mother Teresa said, "When you love someone, you remember their name."

The family was deeply moved when Mother Teresa came to the United States to attend Brother John Mark's funeral in 1978.

"On many occasions, Mother Teresa stayed with us," Mrs. Gil said. "[Our daughter] Teresa was named for her, and they were close."

(08-19-99) [[In-content Ad]]