[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12080-12081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                   IN HONOR OF SISTER PATRICK CURRAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2002

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and work of Mercy 
Sister Patrick Curran, who died peacefully on June 10, 2002. Sister 
Patrick was an inspiration and a friend to so many, and we were blessed 
to have her with us. Her entire life was an act of worship, and we will 
cherish her memory forever.
  Sister Patrick's life embodied a Franciscan spirituality of 
compassion for and solidarity with the poor. Throughout her life, 
Sister Patrick devoted herself unconditionally to serving her sisters 
and brothers who were poor and elderly. She worked as a young nun in 
Harlem and East Los Angeles, in residential care facilities in Denver 
and St. Paul, and in elderly and homeless organizations in the San 
Francisco Bay Area.
  Having spent 20 years with the Little Sisters of the Poor, including 
several years at St. Ann's home in San Francisco, Sister Patrick Curran 
transferred to the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame in 1984. She spent 12 
years as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Mercy 
Retirement and Care Center in Oakland before accepting a position as 
Executive Director of the St. Anthony Foundation, a homeless service 
and advocacy agency in the Tenderloin of San Francisco.
  St. Anthony Foundation is best known for its Free Dining Room that 
serves an average of 2,000 meals each day. It also has a dozen other 
programs that serve homeless and low-income people. Her leadership 
guided St. Anthony Foundation through important times in its history 
and development. She distinguished herself by her ability to bring 
together very talented people--staff, volunteers and donors--to provide 
quality service to St. Anthony's guests. She was steadfast in her 
efforts and once remarked, ``You can't give up hope. I see poverty but 
I see more hope. At St. Anthony's we have hundreds of young people 
coming to work. The young people are a sign of hope for the future.''
  Her work in the Bay Area and around the nation was recognized in 2000 
when Archbishop William Levada presented her with the Pro Ecclesia et 
Pontifice Cross, an award bestowed by the Pope on lay persons and 
clergy who have given exceptional service to the Church. In 2001, she 
received an honorary degree from the University of San Francisco School 
of Nursing for her years of service to the sick and aging.
  It is with great personal sadness and recognition of their loss that 
I extend my deepest sympathy to her mother Bridget Curran, her entire 
family, and to her religious community, the Sisters of Mercy of 
Burlingame. To all who loved Sister Patrick, thank you for sharing her 
with us and for giving her so much happiness. I am proud to join my 
constituents in thanking and praising Sister Patrick for her dedication 
to the elderly and poor of California and of this Nation.

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