Sister Loretto Emenogu eager to continue Church’s mission work

Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy Sister Loretto Emenogu, a native of Nigeria, presents a mission talk to religious education students on Nov. 23, 2008, at St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis. Sister Loretto was named mission educator for the archdiocesan Mission Office on July 1, 2008, when Sister Demetria Smith, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa, retired. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

The statistics on global poverty are heartbreaking, even incomprehensible.

It’s hard to believe that 200 million children who are under 5 years old suffer from malnutrition or that 6,000 children die from polluted water each day or that, during the next 24 hours, 40,000 children will die of starvation and diseases related to malnutrition somewhere in the world.

It’s also difficult to comprehend that half of the world’s population—3 billion people—suffer from diseases that can be prevented and treated.

And it’s sad to think about how, on a given night, 775,000 Americans are homeless throughout the United States.

Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy Sister Loretto Emenogu, a native of Nigeria, hopes that Catholics will remember their brothers and sisters throughout the world and in the home missions who are sick, hungry and in need of help.

On July 1, 2008, Sister Loretto began serving the Church in central and southern Indiana as the mission educator for the archdiocesan Mission Office.

She succeeds Sister Demetria Smith, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa, who served as mission educator in the archdiocese for 13 years.

As part of her ministry, Sister Loretto promotes the work of the Church’s Holy Childhood Association, which helps impoverished people throughout the world, during her presentations to students in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs.

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, said Sister Loretto was asked to serve as the archdiocese’s full-time mission educator last year when Sister Demetria announced her retirement from full-time ministry.

A native of Indianapolis who ministered as a nurse in Africa for many years, Sister Demetria continues to work part time at the receptionist’s desk at the Archbishop O’Meara Catholic Center.

“One of the greatest gifts that Sister Demetria brought to us as mission educator was the fact that she had been in the foreign missions, serving as a nurse with the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa,” Msgr. Schaedel said, “so because of her familiarity with the missions and having been there herself, she was very knowledgeable and could speak from the heart about the needs.

“When Sister Demetria decided to move to a different ministry position, working part time at the receptionist’s desk,” he explained, “Sister Loretto, who was working in [the archdiocese’s] Refugee Resettlement [Program], was also ready to make a transition. She is from Nigeria and has worked in the missions in Africa.”

Msgr. Schaedel invites Catholic school faculty members as well as parish coordinators of religious education programs—including adult education courses and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults—to contact Sister Loretto about scheduling a presentation on evangelization and the poverty-relief efforts of the archdiocesan Mission Office in cooperation with Catholic Relief Services and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Sister Loretto describes her new ministry as “a blessing” because it enables her to talk about God, the Catholic faith, mission work throughout the world, and religious vocations to children and adults.

“I want to help keep the light burning in the hearts of our children,” Sister Loretto said. “I’m so blessed to be asked to do this ministry with the children and help them to follow the steps of Jesus in their life and continue the mission work of the Catholic Church.

“I see everybody as my own brother and my own sister because we are all created by one God and have one faith, the greatest faith, in common all over the world,” she said. “When I educate the children about the missions, my priority is making them understand that we have one thing in common. We are all one family, and it doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Sister Loretto said she found her religious vocation at age 5 in Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, after dreaming about St. Agnes, who told her that she would grow up to be a nun. At age 11, she dreamed about St. Agnes again, who told her once more that God was calling her to become a sister. She joined the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy in Nigeria at age 12½ after attending St. Joseph’s School then continued her education at the order’s Mercy High School.

The late Bishop Anthony Gogo-Nwedo, a member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and founder of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, arranged for her to study midwifery and nursing in Nigeria then manage St. Anthony’s Hospital in the Diocese of Issele-Uku, Delta State, Nigeria, as well as several Catholic hospitals in other dioceses and states.

In 1992, Bishop Gogo-Nwedo approved her transfer to the U.S. to further her education and work as a missionary. She studied at Seton Hall University in New Jersey then completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in health care administration and nonprofit management at Regis University in Denver. She speaks Igbo and two other African languages as well as basic French.

“At the end of 2003, I was asked to come to Indianapolis to help Sister Jennifer Otuonye open our new community here,” Sister Loretto said. “Our convents are at St. Bernadette, Holy Angels and Holy Trinity parishes.”

In 2004, she began working in the Refugee Resettlement Program and taught cultural orientation to refugees from different parts of the world.

(For more information about mission education programs, call the archdiocesan Mission Office at 317-236-1485, 800-382-9836, ext. 1485, or log on to www.archindy.org/mission.) †