Remembering Sr Ruth Montrichard SJC

Fr Laurence Freeman from World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) writes:

There is rejoicing in heaven and sadness on earth. Sr Ruth (born October 8, 1941) died on 14 June in Trinidad where she was born, entered the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny and devoted her life for love of Christ and for those she served through Servol which she co-founded with her soul-friend Fr Gerry Pantin. Her skills and tireless energy built Servol into a landmark NGO dedicated to the education, mentoring, and whole person development of at-risk children, adolescents, and marginalized communities.

I first met her when I visited Tobago decades ago. Her religious sisters, who were hosting me, prevailed on her to take me to see the daily return of thousands of Scarlet Ibis to the Caroni swamp shortly before sunset. She had better things to do with her time but she was an obedient and generously self-giving religious as well as a strong-willed, brilliant founder and administrator. Thousands of these brilliant crimson-red birds fly back across the Gulf of Paria from their feeding grounds to roost for the night. Humans gaze on its beauty and precision with wonder. Ruth has now wonderfully returned home. She had found it in many ways throughout her life, in her work and friendships and family but she never forgot it was her final destination and purpose. In my first meeting with Ruth we connected deeply and she shared with me the other, contemplative, dimension of her being and of her vocation.

In time she returned to her times of meditation each day as faithfully and naturally as the scarlet ibis. Then she used her teaching and organisational genius to develop a strong community of meditators in Trinidad and Tobago and which has spread around the Caribbean. If I'm not mistaken, we meditated briefly on the boat in the swamp that evening. If not, we certainly meditated many times together in many locations over the years, most recently at Bonnevaux.

To read on see: https://wccm.org/tch/sr-ruth-montrichard-sjc/