The Hero Next Door

Courtesy Saturday Evening Post magazine,© 2011 www.saturdayeveningpost.com

Excerpts from article July/August 2011.

Take two nuns in Indianapolis, Sisters Rita Wade and Barbara McClelland, who had seen the largely middle class eastside neighborhood nearby slide into poverty. Based at the Holy Cross convent, church, and school, they watched as older residents -and some of the young ones, too - became afraid to venture into the increasingly hostile streets.

Holy Cross became an oasis of safety and succor. It wasn´t unusual for a homeless or hungry soul to come knocking on the convent´s back door in the middle of the night. “Holy Cross had a food pantry, and the door to the parish office was right next to our kitchen door,” explains Sister Barbara. “So when people got hungry or just wanted to talk, they´d come and pound on our door.”

She chuckles. “We had one guy who came every night at 2, 3, or 4 in the morning and woke us up.”

As a result of their nocturnal visitors, the two Sisters jokingly began to refer to their “back door ministry.” But they also recognized the very real need for a place where people in the neighborhood could find food, a place to relax, a place to be heard, a place to be safe - and a couple of loving hearts.		 Miracle Place

Launched in 2000 by Sisters Rita Ann and Barbara (center), Miracle Place offers a haven of hope for senior citizens, families, and hundreds of children who have entered its doors.
The two women approached the problem the way they approached every other challenge: They thought about it, prayed about it, then talked to their spiritual community. The women´s order ultimately voted to have the nuns quit their jobs and begin serving the neighborhood on a full-time basis. Within a year, Sisters Rita Ann and Barbara had rented and renovated a house on the near eastside and named it “Miracle Place” (amiracleplace.org).

Today, 11 years later, the house is a hive of activity - and the Sisters have also cleared away a pocket park across the street where kids can play safely. Those who have watched the community evolve say that the Sisters will never tell you the half of what they do nor take the credit for any of it. Yet one look at the door constantly swinging open for neighborhood children, their brothers, sisters, parents, and old folks shows the Sisters are saving lives as fully as if they were snatching victims from a burning building.