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USA: Two nuns murdered in Mississippi


Two nuns, Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, OSF, were found dead on Thursday morning in Durant, Mississippi.

The Diocese of Durant said in a statement: "We are terribly saddened to have to announce the murder of two sisters in our diocese. Police found two bodies in the home of Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, OSF, in Durant, Mississippi, this morning. The pair had not showed up to the Lexington Medical Clinic, where they worked this morning so workers called police. The bodies have not been positively identified, but we have no reason to believe anyone else would have been in the house."

"These sisters have spent years of dedicated service here in Mississippi. They absolutely loved the people in their community," said Bishop Joseph Kopacz. "We mourn with the people of Lexington and Durant and we pray for the Sisters of Charity, the School Sisters of St Francis and the families left behind," he added.

"These were the two sweetest sisters you could imagine. It's so senseless," Father Greg Plata, OFM, told a reporter on the scene. Father Plata is the priest at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington.

A police investigation is underway.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth have posted a remembrance on their website: https://scnfamily.org/

The write: "Pray in gratitude for the precious lives of Sisters Paula and Margaret ... they served the poor so well."

Source: Diocese of Durant/SCN

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