Sr. Pat Barrett was Marilyn’s first mentor while she was a student at Maryville College. She volunteered as a math teacher in the Volunteer Improvement Program for residents of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project and served as Sr. Barrett’s driver for evening meetings.
After college, Marilyn entered the Society, teaching music and religion during the school year and volunteering in places like Sursum Corda during the summer. In 1976, after going to Chile to do pastoral and social work in a poor población she left the Society and returned to St. Louis where she became a dedicated activist on behalf of refugees from Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala. With others, she founded Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA), Over the years she has gone on fact-finding delegations to Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Cuba and visits to Mexico/Chiapas, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. As an RSCJ Associate she has represented the Society of the Sacred Heart on the board of the National Farmworker Ministry and has stood in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and many other groups fighting for justice. (Photo by Kathy Franger)
