RIP: Agnes Mary Mansour
Agnes Mary Mansour, a nun with the Sisters of Mercy, past presidentof Mercy College and former director of the Michigan Department of Social Services, passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. She was 73 years of age; still as fiesty as she was when shebattled entrenched bureaucrats, politicians and even the Vatican.
I had the privilege of recording one of her lectures at Wayne State University and incorporating it into my first documentary, which focused on the ethical implications of the Gulf War. She was an intellectual giant who held a Ph.D. in biochemistry. She also had a deeper dedication to serving the poor than any person I've ever met.
Reading her obitutary though, I learned things about her that I never knew. When she was director of M-DSS, she sent her entire salary to the Sisters of Mercy, taking only a $600 monthly stipend from her order. This relationship was incredible, in my opinion, because Sister Agnes was on the outs at the time with the Vatican since her department provided abortions to poor women.
It's also incredible because it's rare for nuns to publically contradict or otherwise dispute anything that the Vatican says.
You can read her obituary at: http://www.freep.com/news/obituaries/mansour18e_20041218.htm
Her passing is a tremendous loss. She was one of the greats and will be missed.
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