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ATLANTA — Sister Marie Sullivan, OP, was recently awarded the
2001 St. Marguerite D’Youville Award.
Recognized for her efforts with the Christian Council of
Metropolitan Atlanta, the Sullivan Center and the Metropolitan Atlanta
Clearinghouse, Sister Sullivan is a valiant woman of her time—one who
helps her neighbors live their lives more fully.
Her mission is helping people help themselves. Her sincere concern
for others and her determination and faithfulness to her task are reflective of
those qualities that made St. Marguerite, founder of the Grey Nuns of the
Sacred Heart, a woman of her time and of all time.
In October, during a break between evening sessions of the
educational classes at the Sullivan Center, in the presence of those she
serves, her Dominican community and Grey Nuns and Grey Nun Associates, Sister
Sullivan was given the 2001 Marguerite D’Youville Award plaque. Sister
Frances Whitman, GNSH, coordinator of the Atlanta Grey Nuns, presented the
award “in recognition of your love for God and for your neighbor,”
she said. “We are indeed blessed that she has chosen Atlanta in which to
share her many talents.”
Born in Canada in the early 1700s, Marie Marguerite Lejammerais
D’Youville sensed God’s providence working in her life. She sought
the support and spiritual nourishment of her faith. She allowed God to work
through her and she raised up a haven of respect and practical assistance for
the needy and neglected of her time and place. Her giftedness and focus did not
go unobserved by those around her. Some were attracted by her goodness and
ministered with her. Her group came to be known as the Grey Nuns.
Since her canonization, the Grey Nuns in Atlanta have honored a
person or group who reflects and performs the deeds for which Marguerite was
known.
Former recipients of the Marguerite D’Youville Award include
Eleanor O’Connor, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Atlanta; Marguerite
Oberg, Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta; Jolaine Kingery, IHM; Dorothy
Miller, Holy Cross Church, Atlanta; Toni Miralles, St. Jude the Apostle Church,
Atlanta; the parishioners of St. Marguerite D’Youville Church,
Lawrenceville; Fran Nichols, St. Jude; and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
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