By Kathi Stearns

ATLANTA--On the feast of Corpus Christi which commemorates Christ’s miraculous feeding of the 5,000, Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Parish honored its outreach minister, Sister Carolyn Oberkirch, RSM, for her 21 years of feeding, clothing and housing the poor of their community.

Effective, Sept. 1, Sister Oberkirch will become the administrator of a retirement home for the Sisters of Mercy in Mobile, Ala. Her departure marks the end of the presence of the Mercy Sisters at OLA.

“There is a certain sadness as we realize that in two weeks there will no longer be a Sister of Mercy working here,” said Sister Betty Walsh, RSM.

The Sisters of Mercy have served OLA as teachers, principals, parish outreach coordinators and administrators. “Their presence provided our children with a sense of stability for the last 50 years,” said Carol McGonegal, a parishioner of 22 years and mother of six OLA graduates. “They taught our children the importance of the Catholic tradition.”

Sister Walsh said that over the years the sisters have tried to bring the ultimate nourishment, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, to those whose lives they have encountered. “So, we ask you to simply remember the work of the sisters with this phrase, ‘Everywhere they went they brought food.’”

Sister Walsh then spoke of how Sister Oberkirch’s 15 years of outreach work have touched the lives of individuals in need of physical and spiritual nourishment. She explained that Sister Oberkirch has truly lived the Gospel message, “That which you do for my brother you do for me.”

“Wherever Carolyn saw a need, she found an answer,” Sister Walsh said.

Sister Oberkirch came to OLA as a teacher in 1974. After six years she founded OLA’s outreach program for the elderly in 1980. It now is staffed by more than 70 volunteers and provides counseling, housing and transportation as well as legal, medical, dental and financial assistance for needy families.

“Her first love has always been working with the elderly,” said Ann Lorenz, an OLA parishioner for more than 20 years.

“She worked with the senior tenants of Johnson Ferry East and Lenox Summit, two low-income apartment complexes in the parish neighborhood,” she said.

“Everything just kind of exploded from there,” Sister Oberkirch said.

In 1990 the Interfaith Outreach Home, a transitional shelter for individuals and families trapped in the cycle of poverty and eviction, was established. The home was the result of the united effort of 34 churches whose members wanted to help people recover from economic difficulties while maintaining the family unit.

“Carolyn spearheaded that campaign,” said Mrs. Lorenz. “She was responsible for making this project a reality.”

The home, which currently serves 10 families, is located on Buford Highway. Families stay there for several months while they break the cycle of living from day to day. When they learn to save enough for first and last month’s rent and utility deposits they are able to move into apartments or starter homes.

Along with her parish outreach program, Sister Oberkirch has served in leadership roles serving on both the DeKalb Community Council on Aging and the Interchurch Association of North Atlanta. She has also moderated a group for separated and divorced men and women, served as the spiritual advisor to the OLA Women’s Guild, and was the first female member of the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society. In 1988 she was voted OLA’s Woman of the Year.

All of Sister Oberkirch’s parish outreach work is funded entirely by donations and by her famous flea markets which are held twice a year.

“She can sell anything,” said Mrs. McGonegal. “And nothing is ever considered to be junk; it is all priceless.” The flea markets attract shoppers from all over the state and net between six and ten thousand dollars.

Most parishioners, however, find Sister Oberkirch’s greatest strength to be her ability to listen and counsel. “If you say you need to talk to her, she will drop everything,” said Mrs. McGonegal. “It is truly a gift and she has shared it with so many of us.

The farewell Mass, which Sister Oberkirch helped plan, featured some of her favorite hymns, including “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” an African-American spiritual, and “Hail, Holy Queen” performed in the rock-and-roll style of the movie “Sister Act.”

According to Mrs. Lorenz, Sister Oberkirch selected the music and asked that her close friends and family have a role in the celebration.

The first and second readings were announced by Sister Peggy Fannon, RSM, while Deacon Bill Bevacqua proclaimed the Gospel. Father William Seli, SM, former pastor of OLA and current pastor of St. Joseph’s, Marietta, was homilist.

“Sister Carolyn has exemplified what all of us are called to be,” he said. “She had been the presence of Christ to the thousands of people she has served. She has never asked anyone to do anything that she had not already done or wasn’t willing to do.”

Father Seli cautioned that this celebration for Sister Oberkirch should not signify an ending. “Her work must continue,” he said.

Mrs. McGonegal and Mrs. Lorenz will be the new parish outreach coordinators. “There is going to be quite a vacuum once she leaves,” Mrs. Lorenz said. “She has meant so much to so many people it is going to be hard to fill her shoes.”

At a potluck supper held after the Mass parishioners gathered in the parish center for a night of sharing the community spirit that Sister Oberkirch had helped build. A poster-sized print of Sister Oberkirch as a novice, topped with a sign that said “Mercy Me.” was prominently displayed. Her cake read, “Hasta La Vista, Baby!”

“Two overflowing baskets of cards from well-wishers and admirers rested on a simulated bus stop bench next to a directional sign that read “Mobile.” Gifts surrounded the baskets and filled the bench beyond capacity. Numerous parishioners joked that they had tried in vain to give Sister Oberkirch a personal gift that she would not use in her ministry.

Five-year-old David Ebinger gave Sister Oberkirch a match-box car that he had selected as a farewell gift. “Thank you so much, I’ll always treasure it,” Sister Oberkirch told David.

David’s grandmother, Mary Kay Aisthorpe, remembered that when her daughter, Beth, told young David that she was pregnant and that he was going to have a new sister of brother, “David told his mom, ‘I already have a sister.’ That sister was Sister Carolyn.

At Sister Oberkirch’s request the party had to include dancing. So, while a disk jockey played tunes of the sixties and seventies including such hits as “Shout,” “Play that Funky Music” and “Wild Things,” Sister Oberkirch led parishioners and fellow Mercy nuns onto the dance floor as they jitterbugged and twisted the night away. As the evening continued Sister Oberkirch started a line-dance around the gym which involved over 200 parishioners when the line grew to full circle.

“Everything was exactly the way I wanted it,” Sister Oberkirch said. “I just wanted everyone to relax and have a good time.”

Between songs she would tell friends that she needed to rest a bit. Yet before the next song had started she was back on the dance floor surrounded by well-wishers and admirers. Sister Oberkirch remained on the dance floor until the party ended, showing the same capacity for enjoyment of life she had shown through the years in her work.