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JUBILARIAN

Gem of a sister marks 50 years 

Sister Mavis Jewell, DC, has a gem of a vocation.

Stories about the Brooklyn-born nun abounded at DePaul Provincial House in Menands as 200 people recently turned out for a celebration honoring Sister Mavis as she celebrated her golden jubilee in religious life.

Sister Mavis was raised in Ireland and trained as a nurse in England before joining the Daughters of Charity. She earned a reputation as "the brave Irish nurse" after she stopped an armed robber in his tracks by throwing a shoe that hit him squarely in his Adam's apple. 

"He had a gun and threatened to kill us if we didn't unlock the cabinet where the narcotics were stored," Sister Mavis explained. "I remembered a self-defense trick I'd learned from one of the bobbies in London that successfully knocked the man out." 

She told The Evangelist that her career change was "more of a calling than a 
choice."

Sister Mavis had had "wonderful role models in my mother and in my maternal grandmother, who was also a nurse and a nurse midwife," she said, and "opportunities to witness many things that ultimately strengthened my faith and made me want to help others.

"I completed my nursing training in London, but felt called to become a Daughter of Charity - an order that makes it possible for women to help those in need close to home as well as in missionary settings abroad."

In religious life, Sister Mavis has continued to use her talents to the advantage of the healthcare field. During one assignment in Pennsylvania, for example, she discovered that dentists in the community wouldn't treat children whose families were uninsured or on Medicaid. 

Noticing that a house on the grounds of Good Samaritan Hospital in Pottsville wasn't being utilized, Sister Mavis saw to it that funds were raised for its conversion into a dental clinic for the needy. When there wasn't enough money to hire professional painters, she tapped into the talents of prisoners in a nearby correctional facility. 

The sister was overjoyed to learn years later than some former inmates were bringing their own offspring to the clinic for dental care.

While representing the peace and justice committee of the Vatican, Sister Mavis traveled to Lithuania, where she was shocked to discover that patients were dying for want of antibiotics. 

She and Sister Marilyn Perkins succeeded in securing not just antibiotics, but also millions of dollars in supplies and equipment for healthcare facilities in need. 

Included was a heart-lung machine so that the hospital could perform cardiac surgeries. 

In addition, the two nuns sponsored a Lithuanian to come to the U.S. and serve as an intern at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany.

For the past 20 years, Sister Mavis herself has been a system and project specialist at St. Peter's. One of her accomplishments there began with a simple encounter: A cancer patient confided that he was frightened, and she gifted him with a prayer shawl she'd made.

Nearly 2,000 prayer shawls have since been made by countless volunteers and given to those in need of comfort. 

"Even the nurses want to get involved in the prayer shawl ministry at St. Peter's," marveled Sister Mavis. 

A few years ago, the sister was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the esophagus and stomach. Offered the choice of being treated at any healthcare facility in the U.S., she chose St. Peter's. 

Doctors have called her eventual recovery from cancer a miracle.

As Sister Mavis celebrated her 50th anniversary as a Daughter of Charity, the adventurous nun was asked whether she had any other stories to share.

"I really did enjoy the time I spent with Vietnamese refugees when I was doing missionary work at the Indian Town Gap Army base after the fall of Saigon" during the Vietnam War, she remarked. "We taught the people English as a second language and once had a cardinal fly in from New York for an open-air Confirmation ceremony."

(08/20/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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