Click here for Sister Veronica Miller's reflection at the Hampton Bays service.
Click here for Fr. Bill Headley's homily at the Mass of Resurrection.

To some Cecilia was sister, aunt, sister-in-law, yet to others she was mentor, healer, and companion.

To some Cecilia was leader, superior, nurse, yet to others she was friend co-worker, soul friend.

To some Cecilia was patient, community member, missionary, but to all she was hope.

There is just too much to say about her life for one eulogist and one who knew her for only ten years. So before I begin my remembrances of Cecilia I invite you to take a moment to cherish what you would share about her. The most complete eulogy would be for each of us to tell the Cecilia we knew. So take a moment to cherish your memory of her.

For me Cecilia was a pilgrim who walked many sacred roads meeting and changing herself and all whom she met. Philip Cousineau in his book, The Art of Pilgrimage, says, “the pilgrim is the traveler who is taken seriously” (p.15). Cecilia was such a traveler; actually she fits perfectly Reinghold Niebuhr’s description of a pilgrim,” a poet who creates by taking journeys.”

Patricia Ann Crittenden’s journey began on March 15, 1931 at her birth to William and Katherine Donovan Crittenden in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She was followed by Joan and Kathy. Her father noted in a 1934 letter to his sister that “Patsy was a devil and hard to control.” So it began!

She attended grade school and high school on Long Island. In October of 1952 she entered the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, New York. She made her first profession on September 14, 1954 and took her final vows on September 14, 1958.I’m sure it appeared in 1958 that this woman would spend her days in care of the dying and in a somewhat quiet, hidden life. That is what one did. She served at Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne; at St. Rose’s Home in Manhattan; studied at Westchester Medical Center for her LPN; was Superior and Admission’s Director at St. Rose, Manhattan and was elected to the General Council of the congregation. It would appear that this pilgrim was successful on her journey. Well yes, and no.

Cecilia was a true pilgrim walking into the sacred with an open inquisitive mind. While at the Manhattan facility she was able to get spiritual books describing the changes in the Church. She voraciously consumed anything she could to learn to grow. All this while working 28 days a month with only two days off ! She knew something was wrong. She questioned. She searched and she responded to a call to journey elsewhere. But in typical Cecilia fashion she walked on with no bitterness or regrets for what she had experienced. She often talked of her times in the Hawthorne community. She would regale us with stories about paying workers from cash received from Hawthorne in brown paper bags. Can you picture Cecilia with piles of cash? Or the stories of assigning a Jesuit volunteer to care for bed pans. When someone told her the volunteer was Daniel Berrigan, the Daniel Berrigan as they told her. She looked wide eyed back at them and asked:” Who is Daniel Berrigan?” Can you imagine she would say “How cut off from the world we were.”

Transferring from Hawthorne was not easy. The pilgrimage was a difficult one. But Cecilia journeyed with dignity and understanding. She followed the first rule of pilgrimage, answer the call. The call led her to journey with the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor. This was 1982, 30 years into her religious life and at 51 years of age she takes a risk. In Cousineau’s words the pilgrim “ moves with the intensity of intention, the soul desires to return to the center whether it portends ecstasy or agony. What makes a pilgrimage sacred is the longing behind the journey...”(p.15) Cecilia longed for an ever deeper relationship with God and a deeper service to God’s fragile.

She served in Hampton Bays as a staff nurse of the Family Health Service and studied full time for her CPE at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. While at Hampton Bays she was in a serious car accident which brought intense physical therapy and shook her to the roots of her being. She realized how fragile we are and perhaps how limited our time on this earth can be. In 1986 just four years after beginning the transfer process she is invited by Mercy Sister Mary Hartnett to join her in operating a clinic in Belize. Gaining the permission was not easy, but Cecilia persisted and off she went. First for a seven weeks then for training in Maryknoll and back to Belize for two years.

Cecilia could answer the poet Mary Oliver’s question” What is it you plan to do with your wild and precious life?” She planned to and did everything she could to journey into the heart of God while demonstrating God’s compassion to those who are marginalized. In a newsletter written after she returned from Belize, Cecilia was described in the following way:

Cecilia’s ministry in the clinic went beyond nursing. She performed may duties from administrative to janitorial. She kept the clinic running smoothly and us running smoothly. She braved the bugs, the swamps, the torrential downpours, the dirt roads, the canals, the sun and even the back of a scooter. She “backed” the boxes, cleaned the floors, emptied the 40 foot containers, dispensed medicine, delivered supplies and planned parties.... Cecilia explored the small Indian villages of Punta Gorda, climbed Mayan ruins, trekked a Mayan medicine trail and learned some of the traditional herbal medicines.

Yet most importantly, Cecilia gave her time and energy, generosity, expertise, knowledge and love to patients... she was pharmacist...but most of all generous “ sista “. (Adapted from Mercy Clinic Newsletter September 1989)

Upon returning home, she with Mary Headley and others responded to the need for care of AIDS patients in Wernersville Pennsylvania founding Rainbow Home. Here she, Mary and the others lived the call to those on the margins of American society. Cecilia managed and cared for the patients. She organized their rooms and closets with more organization than most patients ever witnessed. Her road of pilgrimage brought her closer to her soul friend, Mary and her spiritual friend and mentor Mary Mitchell

Along with her personal pilgrimage, there was the journey of transformation undertaken by the Ossining sisters, the Newburgh sisters and the Fall River sisters. Cecilia threw herself into the process, She served wherever she could and was elected to the first Hope Council in 1995.

That is where I got to know and appreciate her. She was a poet who could write paradox. But for me she was a paradox. On the one hand she could raise her voice for the poor and cry out about the ills of corporate America, yet introduce me to the Christmas Tree Shops and Boscovs. We never passed an opportunity to shop. She seemed so fearless about taking stands or going to Belize, yet on a trip we took as a Council up Mount Rainier while we were in Seattle at the DLC she almost choked me to death as I tried to drive up the mountain road to the top. She was hyperventilating. She was terrified by the narrowness of the road. I thought she was kidding. We soon found she was not. This is the woman who stepped over raw sewerage in the streets of Belize, yet dressed so impeccably that even crosses matched her outfits. I could never get over that. She could live in that bright pink house in Belize, yet was able to tell a good hotel if they double sheeted the beds so the blanket was encased. She taught us that. She was so contemplative yet had read all of the latest novels and seen all the latest movies. I used to say I got my books from the Cecilia Crittenden Memorial Library. She sent me one last month. She used snail mail as a protest against the technological giants,yet loved to travel in comfort. She was self sacrificing, yet always seemed to get the best of whatever was being given. For example on the trip to Fanjeaux rooms were given by lottery. Mary got a closet converted into a bedroom. Agnes and I were sent off to the fifth floor of the Couvent three blocks away from the Belvedere. This spot overlooked the town square where a festival was held with rock bands playing until 2:00 in the morning. Cecilia’s draw was a room in the Belvedere with a bath and balcony that overlooked the valley. What can I say!

For both teams that served with her in leadership we will remember her generosity. Whenever donations were to be made Cecilia always recommended the higher amounts. As Philomena said to me she lived the mission focus and made us conscious of it always. She spoke for justice. And she planned socials to bond us. I will always remember her laughter and her ability to make us laugh. At one particular meeting we were beating an issue to death. As we were about to take a break from the agenda she said she had to read something. We were all attentive. She read a piece she had written when she was eight or so entitled something like “The Perfect Mate” I don’t remember all the details of the perfect mate from the eyes of the eight year old Cecilia, I just remember how we laughed and laughed. Every time things got tough we remembered the perfect mate and relaxed. She was the only one who talked more than I. She finished my sentences. When she was secretary to a meeting she wrote everything I said because she said I was such an extrovert that I would forget what I said. She was right.

If she had a flaw it was that she trusted too much. She believed people. Sometimes she learned they were not always truthful or acting like adults. One evening when Veronica, she and I were returning from a meeting she pounded the back of my seat in anger and disbelief at how people had behaved. She believed in Divine Providence and the goodness of people. God never let her down but sometimes people did. Even I let her down. It was at the first Assembly after the founding. We were at King’s College. Brother Herman had arranged a private room for me. Cecilia told him and all on the committee that I would never take it. I would act as “one among equals.” I took the room. She was shocked.

Cecilia had an eye for beauty and she used it all over. I remember the way she decorated the Center offices from furnishings to wall hangings. Some of us helped with the shopping but it was all under her watchful eye. The transition budget had to be increased. The Mariandale Center has touches of her shopping as does St. Paul’s. Cecilia believed in beauty and she also believed in budget amendments.

Our travels together were where each learned about her. She loved to eat a good meal with dessert. She knew good restaurants. So one time when we were traveling together to Long Island she told me we would eat at this great restaurant. I was visioning a delicious seafood dinner. She took me to a hot dog stand. I never let her forget it. She always claimed it was famous, but I never got over her selecting a hot dog place.

Cecilia loved religious life. She served the LCWR region in planning and programming. At the national LCWR she participated with enthusiasm in every activity. She was Secretary to the Executive Committee of DLC. She did all she could for our Associates and for the National Associate Program.

Cecilia was about relationships. O’Murchu says in Quantum Theology that “It’s not our individuality that matters but our personhood which is meaningless apart from the relationships that beget and sustain each of us,” (p.195) Cecilia thrived on relationships. She loved her family so deeply. She cherished her times with you on Block Island, in New Jersey or Virginia. She spoke of you always and when she could brought us into your lives. Mary she was your soul friend. She cherished you and loved you She was your planner and your dresser. She shopped for you and yet you nurtured and cared for her. To all of her friends and you are legion she loved you individually. She loved community and all those she lived with over the years. She loved Hope and especially her Community Chapter. She was a beacon for us. We are all less without her.

She came full circle. Her final ministry was back in Hampton Bays. She was happy there. It was in these final months she showed us beauty in suffering. The poetry she left us of these months attests to her fears and her reliance on her God She said, “ A scrap of sky. It is enough for Hope. As a” soulful traveler, a pilgrim she found beauty in ruins, brokenness, inclement weather and even in foul moods “ ( Cousineau p. 100)

Perhaps she says to us what was said in the Little Prince:

You - and you alone- will have the stars
as no one else has them.
In one of them I shall be laughing
And so it will be as if all the stars are laughing when you look at the stars.
You - only you - will have the stars
That can laugh !
And when your sorrow is comforted
You will be content that you have known me. (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)

Yes, Cecilia we will remember you as laughing.
We will remember your passion for justice.
We will remember your love for us
And the stars will remind us of how much we miss you and how you are in the heart of the One you sought on your pilgrimage.
Thank you for loving us and being Hope for us.
Thank you dear friend, we are privileged to have known you.

Sister Catherine Walsh, OP
August 21, 2006