Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 9/6/2023
HOLYOKE — It is said that to be extremely grateful is to offer a thousand thanks. For Sister Mary Caritas, who is celebrating her 100th birthday, it seems as though she is writing a thousand thank you notes to people who have gone to parties in her honor, offered gifts and well wishes, and prayed for her continued good health.
“When you’ve been around for 100 years you meet a lot of people. I’m still in a state of recovery from attending all the parties. It’s just been one big blur,” said Caritas, Sisters of Providence vice president in Holyoke. “I’m trying to get out my thank you notes, but I’m scared to death I’m going to forget somebody. I feel like taking an ad out in the newspaper,” she said with a laugh.
Caritas may be best known as former president of Mercy Medical Center, or Sisters of Providence past president, or associate director of Berkshire Medical Center. Her resume goes on for nine pages. She has sat on nearly 200 executive boards, councils, committees and task forces — as many as 15 at a time. She has received more than 40 honorary degrees and awards.
With degrees, designations or certificates from five educational institutions including Tufts University, Regis College and St. Louis University, she has held nine administrative or executive level positions. It’s all so much for someone who wanted so much less.
“I’m just a kid from Springfield. I went to public school and then the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing. My goal was to join the Navy, but when I graduated, World War II was over so I couldn’t follow that dream,” she said.
Caritas graduated from nursing school and became a registered nurse — but she would quickly take on, not a handful of patients, but would help advance the health care industry.
Healthcare champion
Holding leadership positions on the Board of the Catholic Health Association, American Hospital Association and Massachusetts Hospital Association, she became a vocal champion of health care in Massachusetts and America.
She supported Hillary Clinton when the former first lady worked to reform healthcare in the 1990s — and decades before that, she pushed for passage of Medicare, which Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law in 1965.
“I don’t want to run for office, but I love the political process. I did a fair amount of traveling back and forth to Washington and one of things we accomplished was the passage of Medicare,” she said. “I’ve been involved in political battles, but God has always been the Spirit leading me.”
Through her various projects and ministries, Caritas has worked to establish housing not only for the poor, but middle income families as well —“the retired school teacher, firefighter or police officer,” she said.
While Caritas has also worked to help the homeless, it wasn’t always clear to her that people were living in boxes just blocks away from Springfield’s restaurants, bars and hotels.
“I thought we don’t have homeless people, but a colleague grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of my office. We went down to the Connecticut River, and I saw plastic covered boxes with human beings living inside. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Caritas worked with Sister Julie Crane to establish Healthcare for the Homeless. She led the effort and was the program’s first director. “I’m so proud of that program and what we have accomplished together,” Caritas said. Healthcare for the Homeless also works with local agencies to find housing for those who need it.
Despite programs then and now, people are still suffering and living in boxes — and they shouldn’t be, said Caritas.
“It’s a terrible problem. I’m not sure we have put enough energy into trying to find a solution. Many of these people have mental health issues. It’s not their fault, yet people look at them in a discriminating way. I don’t have the solution, but I pray about it. And that’s all I can do,” she said.
Life after retirement
After leading Mercy Medical Center for 16 years, Caritas retired at the age of 70. “People came to my retirement party saying, ‘Oh, thank God, she’s leaving. But they were wrong,” she chuckled. “Since I retired, I think I’ve done more than before I retired. It’s been a great life.”
Caritas is still involved with more than two dozen boards, councils and committees. She doesn’t attend all of the meetings in person — she works out of her office at Providence Place where she joins video conferences and makes phone calls.
She has done and accomplished so much in her 100 years, and she’s quick to credit those around her.
“I might have had an idea, but it takes others to make it a reality. And for that I’m so grateful. But I feel also embarrassed because other people have made things happen — I get the credit, and it’s not fair.”
Caritas may have worked in Washington and had a world view of improving health care, which has been her life’s ambition, but she never took her focus off Western Massachusetts.
“I started and finished my career at Mercy. I was even born there. Having a vocation as a Sister of Providence has been the hallmark of my life and a gift from God,” she said. “I’ve met so many wonderful people. I haven’t given that much, but I truly have been enriched by the people around me.”
Caritas can’t say what’s next for her because she doesn’t know. “I take it one day at a time. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. I only have today, and it’s called the present.”
As for all of the attention and adulation, the cards and the parties — much of it doesn’t make sense to her.
“This is all one big surprise, especially hearing from people I haven’t stayed in touch with. My heart is full of gratitude. I’m truly overwhelmed.”