some other saint’s name. I myself was given the name “Sister Marie Madeleine”—a French version of Magda or Magdalena. Was it coincidence? Well, like Sister Robrecht, I reverted to my baptismal name Pilar when we were allowed to after Vatican Council II when many things in the Church were “modern- ized,” such as using local languages instead of Latin in Masses, shortening the skirts and veils of the nuns’ dresses, etc. Today my work as a Good Shepherd Sister and as the founder of Pro-life Philippines involves counseling girls and women in crisis—victims of physical and sexual abuse, sexually active and pregnant teens, battered women—and street children. The seeds of compassion and zeal for these “least, lost and last” were planted in my heart by Sister Robrecht. Her teaching us how to make a score on our spiritual bouquet cards whenever we did a good deed for the day led me to participate actively in Pondo ng Pinoy, an evangelization project whereby one drops 25 centavos a day to symbolize a good deed one has done. The coins saved are then brought to the parish church, not as part of the Sunday Mass collection, but set aside for developmental projects for the poor such as microfinancing programs, voca- tional courses, housing or health programs. I was appointed by His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales to head the project screening committee and to make sure the projects were genuinely to uplift the conditions of the poor. Sister Robrecht was not only a “Teacher, Teacher” to me. She was a spiritual guide and a quiet example of a person for others, a follower of Christ and a faithful daughter of Mary, our Mother.
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Sr. Mary Pilar L. Verzosa, RGS, the activist nun, continues to do her work among disadvantaged and abused women and children.
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