Sister Sophie Boueri, D.C., spent much of her life caring for the tiniest and most helpless: young orphans who found love and care at the Creche, a home for unwanted children in Bethlehem. In 2011, CNEWA’s Msgr. John Kozar caught up with this spirited sister and, like everyone who meets her, was in awe:
The director of the facility is named Sister Sophie and she is something special. This sister is the embodiment of the protector of little babies and the unwanted. She loves each and every one of the 91 childen cared for at the Creche.
She took us to a room with little ones ranging in age from a few days old to about nine months. One of the babies was left at a big garbage dump, another at Sister Sophie’s doorstep. Some children were dropped off for various reasons. There is no legal system for adoption in Palestine and Muslim tradition does not allow for it, so this is a big challenge. But Sister Sophie, her staff and her many volunteers still present loving smiles to all who visit.
But at an age when most people are trying to take it easy, 83-year-old Sister Sophie then took on one more tough job in a tough corner of the world. After nurturing young orphans in the West Bank for decades, she turned her attention to another group of orphans: abandoned elderly women in her native Lebanon. Her order, the Daughters of Charity, has a worldwide charism to help the poor and the marginalized.
She spoke with us last year about her new mission:
ONE: Tell me about your work in Lebanon.
Sister Sophie: We have 40 elderly women who live in our home. Some are sisters and others are women who have no families or who have been abandoned by their families. We have one doctor and ten staff members. I am the only sister. All the women are Christians, and we accept all rites — Maronite, Orthodox, Latin. We ask only that they be Christian because we take them to Mass every day.
ONE: What kinds of activities do you provide for your residents?
SS: I take them to daily Mass and to receive the sacraments. I walk with them and I am present with them all the time. Once a patient gets better and they can move, I take them on little field trips to places such as the Marian shrine in Harissa or St. Sharbel Monastery.
ONE: What keeps you strong enough to help the elderly when you are elderly yourself?
SS: Only him! I promised Jesus a long time ago I would help all people. This is a promise I cannot break. All my life I have seen the poor and I cannot see them without helping them. Do you see how poor they are? And Sister Sophie also is very poor.