Participation in the 1996 Leadership
Memphis Program introduced Maria to
Memphis Area Neighborhood Development Corporation (MANDCO), an inner
city Community and Housing Development Organization. She serves on MANDCO’s board and lives in one of their
rental houses.
Through the years she has served
neighborhood youth as an academic
cheerleader, a source of books to read, and
facilitator of used computer equipment
Maria has lived for many years in inner
city South Memphis in a house rented
from MANDCO (Memphis Area Neighborhood Development Corporation).
for their homes. Through her caring presence she continues to provide an anchor
of security for elderly neighbors.
African American Ministry
Leaves Lifetime Legacy
Nic Catrambone began her preparations to leave Memphis and retire to
Mount Carmel in early March. The African American communities of Memphis
and Clarksdale, Miss., have been the primary sites of her ministry since 1964.
After a lifetime of teaching high school
math and religion, Nic’s most recent activities have been in Memphis among the
people of St. Augustine Parish, the local
Pax Christi group, and the MemphisShelby County Jail, as well as the Caritas
Community Center in nearby Binghampton. Dependent now on rides from others,
Nic can no longer participate in many of
her previous activities. But each day finds
her engaged in phone ministry to sick and
homebound members of the parish.
Each Thursday, Nic goes with friends
Judy and Jerry Bettice to a gathering for
discussion and prayer at Caritas Community Center. The group, including several
long term members of Pax Christi and
anyone from the inner city area around
the community center, focuses regularly
on scripture and social justice readings.
Two Saturdays a month, Nic, Catholic
layman Chuck Gustaitis, and Episcopal
After 30 years in Memphis, BVM Nic Catrambone’s ties with St. Augustine parishioners and friends are
strong and deep.
Deacon Martin Jellinek facilitate a scripture, prayer and discussion session with
male inmates at the Memphis-Shelby
County Jail, better known as 201 Poplar.
About 30 men, some barely out of
their teens, a few much older, file into a
large room on the 3rd floor of the county
jail. Guards are stationed outside, but
not inside the room. Within the room,
the men’s voices are quiet, their attention
focused on whomever is speaking, a striking contrast to the noisy atmosphere of
the cell block.
“As the men come in and leave, they get
a big hug from me,” says Nic. “They call
this old gray-haired lady, ‘Mama’ or ‘Ma
dear.’ I feel so blessed to be with them.”
Nic leads the men in a song and a
brief period of centering prayer. Then, she
explains, “The inmates volunteer to read
the Gospel; Chuck, Martin and I briefly
share what we hear God saying to us; and
the men share their thoughts about the
Gospel and their personal stories. Their
honesty and trust always touches my heart.
“There is one story that is very deeply
in my heart. A very young man, who for
a number of sessions had said nothing in
the group, began to speak: ‘I never wanted
to talk in the group, but today I want to.’
In halting words, he continued, ‘I was four
years old. It was Christmas Eve. My mama
had a knapsack on her back. Somebody
shot her in the neck. She died at my feet. I
have never told this story to anyone.’
“Immediately,” Nic recounts, “our 201
Poplar ‘church family’ got up, embraced
and cried with him. After this, during the
months as he awaited sentencing, he often
spoke in the group. He knew what he did
was wrong. He wasn’t afraid of whatever
sentence he would get. He got life plus 250
years and left us for the state penitentiary.”
As she prepares to leave Memphis, former students from Clarksdale have begun
to call and visit, some from several states
away. Her days are full of “last times.”
Like anyone in mission, “home” is many
different places. Leaving h