VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
I was born on the island of St. Michael in the Azores off the coast of Portugal. As my father was the lighthouse keeper, I was born in a lighthouse. I considered myself the princess of the lighthouse. But, soon after my birth, my mother who was an American citizen was called back to America. It would be six years before I saw her again.
“Dolores, sorry we have to go,” said my father to me. I did not want to go to America and leave behind my friends and relatives. The boat ride took eight days. Although the boat was crowded, I let everyone know I did not want to go. I ran up and down the boat, yelling and just being naughty. No one could keep me quiet, nor could they get any sleep.
After arriving in New York, we moved to Massachusetts. For a while we lived in the attic of a lady, just the three of us — my parents and myself — as my older brother was not permitted to leave Portugal. I found it amusing that the houses were so different from our huts in the Azores. And, people were talking in a funny language. I spoke Portuguese; I did not know what English was.
Since I was 6 years old, I had to go to school. Every morning I would walk to school with Bobby, my neighbor. Well, as I did not feel that I needed to go to school every day, I influenced him not to go as well. One day, we sat in the middle of a sidewalk smoking the cigarette butts we found, copying what people did. A police car eventually came down the street looking for the two missing children the school had reported. More incidents followed; the cops were getting tired of looking for me.
I was placed at Sacred Hearts Academy, a girls’ reform school in New Haven, Massachusetts, for the fifth grade and there my life began to change. There were nuns in white teaching there. As I had already figured out for myself that there was no God, thinking that going to church was a Portuguese thing, because there was no Portuguese-speaking Mass here. I said to myself, “I might as well do all that I want and enjoy this life, as this is the only life.” Knowing what time the bread man came to make deliveries, I would then sneak into the truck and fill my arms with donuts and bread. I do not remember what I did with the goods, but I did keep doing it.
One day in religion class, Sister Marie Christine said, “Oh girls, we have such a loving God.” “Really?” I thought to myself knowing nuns would not lie. Gradually I realized and began to grow in the knowledge that there is a God that loves me. There is another life.
I never thought of entering the convent. I dreamt once of having a room full of bureaus. In each drawer there was a crib representing the many children I wanted. My dream has come true in the many, many children I have taught over the years helping them to know of God. Yes, there is a God who loves me … and you.
Sister Dolores Marie Pavao is a religious of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She first came to Hawaii in 1973. After returning to the Mainland in 1983, she recently returned to join the Sisters at Hale Malia O Ka Malu. She is 56 years professed.
