Nun's bucket list gets shorter with Francis invite
She asked. She prayed. She Facebooked.
And her prayers — and her friends' savvy use of social media — were answered.
At 88, Sister Noel Devine, a 70-year member of the Maryknoll Sisters, told her friends in Ossining that her bucket list included wanting to meet Pope Francis during the pontiff's visit this week.
Actually, she wanted him to come to her, in Ossining.
Friends started a Facebook campaign that went viral, reaching more than 100,000 people. Their support and prayers, the sister said, secured her a glimpse of the pope.
While the globe-trotting pontiff won't make the trip up to Westchester, he did invite Sister Noel to attend his evening vespers service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday.
Sister Noel spent her entire life helping others as a school teacher in Chicago and Hong Kong. In 1998 speech difficulties brought her back to the Ossining. She was diagnosed with primary lateral sclerosis – a rare disease affecting the movement of arms, legs and face. She uses a digital tablet to communicate.
“I am on cloud nine,” Sister Noel wrote today.