The slaying of five American nuns in Liberia stunned and saddened neighbors, relatives and their sisters in the holy orders.
"They gave their lives for what they believed," said a tearful Sister Mildred Gross, head of the Order of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. "I never thought it would end like this."Sisters Shirley Kolmer, Barbara Ann Mutra, Mary Joel Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire and Agnes Mueller, in their 50s and 60s, were reported slain in Liberia's civil war during the past two weeks, apparently by rebels.
The Kolmers were cousins. Shirley Kolmer and Mueller had sisters in the order.
Sister Elizabeth Kolmer, who visited Liberia over the summer, said her sister "could see what the real questions of life were and what we could do to help. She was a great woman."
Sister Mary Ann Mueller said her sister had been in Liberia for five years and "was where she wanted to be, and I'm grateful for that."
The order established a mission in Liberia in 1971 to provide health care and education.
Near Ruma, a farming community of about 250 some 40 miles southeast of St. Louis, the order operates several hospitals and provides staff to several schools.
"It seems like just about everybody here was a student or a patient of one of them, or they knew somebody who was a student or a patient," said James Wittenauer of nearby Red Bud.
"I don't know that you can make sense out of it," said Ruma resident Bob Chunn. "They were innocent women who were only trying to help the Liberian people."
Sister Gross said the Liberian mission's future depends on whether other nuns are willing to go. She said it was the first time that members of the order were killed while carrying out their mission.
She pointed out a quotation on a wall at the convent: "Our times are in thee hands, O God."
"This is a quote from one of our sisters who was held prisoner in China 50 years ago," Sister Gross said.
About 350 people attended a private service for nuns and relatives Sunday at the convent, and the archbishop of Monrovia led hundreds of people in prayer in that city for the nuns, whose bodies still lay unrecovered in the war zone.