Work with the poor earns Florida nuns honorary doctorates

Published: 2006-06-08

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Keynote speaker Sister Ann Kendrick dared the Rollins College class of 2006 not to be the "whatever" generation. "Stay engaged," she urged them. "Continue to believe in human goodness and in our capacity as human beings to love and be transformed by that love." Sister Kendrick had not only been called upon to address the 350 graduates in the packed sports center on the school's Winter Park campus, near Orlando, but she was also one of four Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Apopka who had just received honorary doctorates at the 2006 graduation ceremony May 14. The four nationally known Catholic nuns -- Sister Kendrick, 61; Sister Teresa McElwee, 76; Sister Gail Grimes, 68; and Sister Cathy Gorman, 62, all graduates of what was then Trinity College in Washington -- arrived in central Florida in the early 1970s. Inspired by Luke's Gospel, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news to the poor," they launched vital ministries among farmworkers and the poor of varied ethnic, racial and linguistic communities.

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