It's just before 9:30 on a Sunday. The musicians are warmed up, so the doors open to admit the people waiting outside. It's a small crowd, but enough to fill the intimate space. Everyone is all dressed up. There is no cover charge.
Tony is at the piano, as usual, and Red is on drums. Bruce is sitting in on sax and Yvette is looking over the music, preparing to shake the rafters with her powerful voice.
But this isn't some smoky jazz lounge; it's Sunday Mass at Our Savior in Covington, Kentucky--a tiny little refuge snug up against the west bank of the Licking River.
Sister Janet, who celebrated her 60th jubilee this year, has been the parish administrator at Our Savior for 27 years. She organizes the services, makes sure the bills are paid, keeps a weather eye on the roof, and arranges donuts for the parish hall.
If running a parish were not work enough, it's just one aspect of Sister Janet's ministry. She also visits the Campbell County and Kenton County jails once a month. At times there are a dozen or more inmates to visit, at others just one or two. "Sometimes I think I won't bother to go. I don't feel up to it and I think maybe no one will be there. But then I go and even if it's only one person, I can't tell you how often I hear that my visit or maybe some word of advice or encouragement was 'just what they needed.' So I keep going."
Sister Janet also believes in interacting with the neighborhood. She's known for taking long walks—long walks. She'll often cross the Ohio River more than once on a trek, and finds herself out on the streets at all hours.
"I like to be visible in the community."
In her 60 years of ministry, Sister Janet has worked in many roles and many places. She recalls a time teaching at St. Michael's in Ripley, Ohio. It was report card time, so she and the other teachers were very busy. At about 6 p.m. she got a call with instructions to catch the 9 a.m. bus to Cincinnati. Once there, she learned her new assignment would be in Rhode Island.
That's how quickly things could move. I had to complete all my work, finish the report cards, hand off my class, pack, and be ready to go in the morning. we didn't think much about it back then. you just went wherever you were sent.
Her footsteps later took her to Ecuador (where she tried, with limited success, to conquer Spanish) for three years. She spent a year at Welcome House in Covington, doing the cooking and housekeeping. Then she was off to Arizona for three years at a Navajo reservation, where her feet never stopped.
After this, Sister Janet was discerning a call to mission work in Ghana. "By this time," she says, "they were a little more interested in knowing where you wanted to go, rather than just changing your life overnight. I definitely learned to appreciate that."
She had asked about the possibility of doing some inner-city ministry stateside, but nothing seemed to be opening up. Then Bishop Hughes called, asking if she would be interested in Our Savior, a small, historically black church in Covington.
It was a perfect fit.
Sister Janet's walking days are far from over. She jokes about her itinerant ways and admits she may have slowed down just a bit. "I used to think nothing of hopping on my bicycle and riding out to the convent. With all the trucks and traffic, though, I have been encouraged to give it up."
"These days, I walk the streets of Covington. That's where the people are."
Credits:
Created with an image by KYNA STUDIO - "The feet of Christ"