"Mama"
Sr. Antonia Brenner
Other news sources, including NPR and the San Duiego Tribune, note that on a few occasions she broke up fights and quelled brewing riots. Brenner was an energetic fundraiser who often visited Southern California to collect food and supplies. Few people said no, though sometimes she didn't leave them much choice.
In a 2010 documentary "La Mama: An American Nun's Life in a Mexican Prison." Father Joe Carroll jokingly took to calling Brenner a "thief" for regularly clearing out his charity of donations.
"If I told her she couldn't have it, she'd just be smiling and giggling at me and putting it into her car and leaving," Carroll said, laughing.
In the late 1990s, she established her own religious order, the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour. Tijuana Archbishop Rafael Romo said she possessed the qualities of a saint and said her death was a "terrible loss" for the city, the Tijuana newspaper Frontera reported.
She is also survived by her seven children, James, Kathleen, Theresa, Carol, Tom, Elizabeth and Anthony and more than 45 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
One person summarized her this way: "Rhyme, reason — you can't rationalize why she did it. She has that one-on-one relationship with God."
To: Mrs. Don-o
To: Mrs. Don-o; al baby
3 decades VOLUNTARILY living in a TJ prison?
I’m uhh.. I, I’m...
(darn it. what’s the word I’m looking for here?)
3 posted on
10/18/2013 12:28:47 PM PDT by
Responsibility2nd
(NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Some few people in the world have extraordinary courage and love that is simply astounding. Sr. Antonia Brenner seems to have been one of those. RIP, Sister.
4 posted on
10/18/2013 12:35:24 PM PDT by
TigersEye
(Stupid is a Progressive disease.)
To: don-o; RCB-Catholic; RBStealth; Tax-chick; Salvation; NYer; marshmallow; Morgana; markomalley; ...
I posted this in News/Activism because it’s a friendlier neighborhood than the Religion Forum. Besides, this is really news — “Good News” — and her example is beautiful, one we can all emulate in some way.
6 posted on
10/18/2013 12:44:48 PM PDT by
Mrs. Don-o
(Trust your Savior, not your culture.)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Wow. I’m speechless...what a tremendous servant of God!
8 posted on
10/18/2013 12:51:21 PM PDT by
pgkdan
To: Mrs. Don-o
"If I told her she couldn't have it, she'd just be smiling and giggling at me and putting it into her car and leaving," Carroll said, laughing.
I wonder why her marriages did not work out. Maybe she was too spunky?!
9 posted on
10/18/2013 12:53:16 PM PDT by
mlizzy
(If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended. --Mother Teresa)
To: Mrs. Don-o
While I admire what she has done, I wonder if she had any success with the “lost souls” in the prison.
10 posted on
10/18/2013 12:54:08 PM PDT by
Cowboy Bob
(They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Back in the early 80’s I spent a weekend (standing) in a TJ Jail, Sunday night a petite Nun came in and spoke with all of us, asking names and where we were from, she left and an hour later the Jailer let me out and told me the Nun had paid my Bail and then gave me a business card with an address where I could donate to her cause.
It may have been Sister Antonia Brenner.
If so I will meet her again and Thank her in person.
TT
11 posted on
10/18/2013 12:54:36 PM PDT by
TexasTransplant
(Idiocracy used to just be a Movie... Live every day as your last...one day you will be right)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Thanks for the ping. An amazing story.
19 posted on
10/18/2013 1:24:47 PM PDT by
Tax-chick
("The heart of the matter is God's love. It always has been. It always will be."~Abp. Chaput)
To: Mrs. Don-o; Tax-chick; GregB; Berlin_Freeper; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; ...
he would walk freely among thieves and drug traffickers and murderers, smiling, touching cheeks and offering prayers. Many were violent men with desperate needs. She kept extra toilet paper in her cell, arranged for medical treatment, attended funerals. Thank you, Mrs. Don-o for posting the story of this beautiful woman and h/t to GreyFriar for sending me the article for posting. Mrs. Don-o beat me to it. May our Lord welcome her with open arms and a warm smile.
20 posted on
10/18/2013 1:29:34 PM PDT by
NYer
("The wise man is the one who can save his soul. - St. Nimatullah Al-Hardini)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Thank you for posting in this digital Cul De Sac, otherwise I would have missed it. Just like most of us, Sister Antonia needed to be needed. Unlike most of us, she took a calculated risk, based on love and devotion, walking away from the physical comforts and the predictable security of her own family.
Actually, I did not realize this was allowed anywhere today; to purposely reside in a prison setting. I may have overlooked what happened to the husband. I presume she was a widow.
How divinely heroic she was! That, my friends is what real beauty is.
To: Mrs. Don-o
She gave a talk in my hometown about three years ago and my little boy asked her for a blessing. When this happened I told myself, my son is being blessed by a future saint!
26 posted on
10/18/2013 2:08:37 PM PDT by
diamond6
(Behold this Heart which has so loved men!" Jesus to St. Margaret Mary)
To: Mrs. Don-o
A truly amazing lady.
RIP, Sister Antonia Brenner....
27 posted on
10/18/2013 2:14:18 PM PDT by
Gator113
To: Mrs. Don-o
That is someone who ‘walked the walk’!
32 posted on
10/18/2013 3:27:56 PM PDT by
dljordan
(WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
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