Sister Margaret Scott, OP
Date of death: January 13, 2005
“The faithful shall abide with God in love.” We hear that proclamation from the Book of Wisdom. So, Margaret Scott, for many years known to a lot of us as Sister Ann Arthur, to others as “Scottie” and to her many nieces and nephews as Aunt Margie a faithful servant, if there ever was one, “abides with God in Love.” Surely she lived the commandment given us once again today in the excerpt we heard from John’s Gospel: “The command that I give you is this: that you love one another.” That is how we “shall abide with God in love.” It starts here, here in our everyday, mundane, prosaic day-to-day living. That mystical-sounding, mutual indwelling of father/mother, son, and disciples: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Live on in my love…love one another.”
Now Margaret would not ever want to have a “fancy” world like “mystical” or “mysticism” applied to her life! Maybe we all shy away from such terminology. John and his Gospel do not. How else describe the experience of being “friend of God,” of loving one another as it’s done in the mystery of the Trinity? That is mystical.
With Margaret there was no “fancy” talk and she had little tolerance for it in anyone else. Her very life said “No” to the fancy and the phony, to status of any kind, and to ego-centeredness. She preferred always a “behind the scenes” position. Yet her leadership instincts and skills often put her “out front” whether as teacher or administrator, in grade school or high school in New York or New Jersey, in the Camden Diocesan Office of Education, eight years as Council Member for the Newburgh Dominicans, Pastoral Person in two parishes (Sacred Heart, Newburgh, New York and Ascension in New Milford, New Jersey) and then here at this Center of Hope in Newburgh. In nearly sixty years of religious life, fully committed to the Dominican tradition, she “went forth and bore fruit,” much fruit, as leader in one capacity or another.
I came to know Margaret well when we worked very closely together as Council members from 1971 to 1979 We now have two members of our group in heaven, she and Pat Kennedy. I hope they are enjoying a glorious reunion, even as we mourn their loss. Margaret brought to that Council table in a special way the needs of those she perceived as “the underdog,” the “marginalized.” She championed those needs and she exemplified that saying “Think globally; act locally.” A strong sense of justice, of fairness, of honesty, were hers. And always at that Council table she brought a suggestion to “tap” new people for tasks to be done. Call on the “untried” and encourage them to “try.”
It was in those years and the ones that followed that I came to know Margaret as the remarkable woman she was. When I learned that this Gospel of John was to be read at her Liturgy today, I thought: “How appropriate!”
The word “love” is bandied about a lot these days. There is much that passes for love in our times. We have the sentimental Hallmark greeting card; we have the dreamy, the trite, and the glib. We have the sort of self-indulgent state of mind that’s sometimes called love. And then we have the Gospel understanding of love, deep-down, other-centered kind that endures. It is patient; it is kind; it is not pompous, it does not seek its own interests; it delights in the truth, Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians. It is the love lived by those who are in it “for the long haul.” It is not easy. In fact, it is quite arduous. It is described this way in the great Russian novel, The Brothers Karamasov: “Active love is labor and fortitude.” It is the kind of love lived by Margaret. We all experienced it—her beloved family (brothers, sister, nieces, nephews), her Dominican Sisters, colleagues, those with whom and to whom she ministered and her many friends. Such love has its own kind of energy, even when the body is suffering its diminishments. In Margaret’s latest years here at the Mount, how vital a force for all kinds of good she remained, no matter her physical weaknesses, from mentoring the newly-arrived, to building bridges and helping to mend fences, to preparing and delivering “Broadcast Hope”—I could go on and on. Those who live here could go and on.
Recently, I read this sentence in a book by Parker Palmer called Let Your Life Speak. He says, “The attempt to live by the reality of our own nature, which means our limits as well as our potentials, is a profoundly moral regimen.” Margaret did that and she did it with graceful vitality right up to the end.
In closing I would like to read a couple of sentences from the parish bulletin of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Paterson, New Jersey. It is dated June 26, 1966, and the words are from a column in the bulletin entitled “In Appreciation.”
Sister Ann Arthur’s ability is well known to the people of this parish. Her dynamic leadership, her energetic interest, her devoted concern for the children and her genuine love for this parish have resulted in a record of outstanding achievements in our school and in the children.
In the two yeas that Sister was principal, the improvements to the convent and school, the increased level of education, the spirit of the children, the response of the parents and the cooperation of everyone have been remarkable. Sister has been one of the leaders in obtaining Federal Aid for Catholic Schools. As a result of her diligent work, Our Lady of Lourdes School now has a nurse five mornings a week, a remedial reading clinic and a library second to none in the city of Paterson.
It is with real regret that we say good-bye to Sister Ann Arthur. We are sincerely grateful to God for the two years that Sister spent in our midst.
That was nearly forty years ago. And she didn’t stop then. In fact, she didn’t stop until last week! She took seriously today’s Gospel message: “Go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure.” Hers has. Hers will. Love does that. Paul tells us it trusts; it hopes; it endures. And we rejoice with great gratitude for the blessing Margaret’s presence in our lives has been. The world is a better place. We are all better people for having known her. And we will try, Margaret, to reflect in our lives something of the real, unpretentious, intelligent, truthful love of one another that you modeled so well for us. May your joy now be complete.
Beth McCormick, OP