Right now it is possible to take a direct flight from the Philippines to Saipan. It is almost easy to get here from PI. But that is not even close to the route Sister Stella Mangona traveled 18 years ago from PI to the CNMI.
Sister’s life itinerary is one that no travel agent would have thought to book: before Saipan she was in Guam and prior to that, San Francisco. But she arrived at San Francisco by way of Baltimore, Chicago, New Mexico, Los Angeles, Mexico, France and St. Louis. Missouri, just to name a few. During the course of our conversation I lost track and could not keep up.
Sister Stella is not overwhelmed, though. She radiates peace and well-being. She is well past her 70th birthday and claims that her full-time work, split between her private counseling practice and her work in the Diocese, feels like an easy load. Besides, she says she knows the importance of taking time to recharge. She takes a yearly retreat and “I like to have a margarita now and then, and to get my nails done.” She giggles and glances down, straightening out her fingers to take a look: “Actually, I am overdue right now!” When I teased her for sounding distinctly unlike a nun, she just laughed. Sister Stella is strong and confident in herself; all that we, the younger generation of women, strive to become.
“It helps to have a sense of mission,” she explains matter-of-factly, “and reconciliation is the mission of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. We have a commitment to peace and justice.” In various forms, that’s what the Sisters of the Good Shepherd do all over the world, advocating for the disadvantaged and the poor. Their priority is to help people make the change so that they no longer have to exist on the margins of life.
That’s exactly how she came to a partnership with Karidat: the focus on justice and advocacy for the abused is what drew her in. When the very first victims of human trafficking showed up at Karidat’s door (literally) more than ten years ago, Sr. Stella provided counseling and comfort—and in their own language, no less! Ahead of time, however, there was no way she could have predicted that some of the very specific needs of these young traumatized women would be met through her. She, who had only relocated to Saipan on a “come and see” basis.
Looking back, it is clear to see that the path that seemed to zigzag was in fact headed straight all along. Sister gained important experiences and training along the way, meeting people and forging relationships in every town or city she visited. But the journey was divinely coordinated in a way that is visible only now, years later. Who knew that some of those people would turn out to be partners in her work decades, or even years, in the future? Sometimes help has come from unlikely sources, from churches or individuals who were several degrees removed from either the CNMI or the Catholic faith, but who nevertheless were willing to help. (She and I even discovered some friends in common, and from a very remote and empty corner of the world!)
You couldn’t plan out this trajectory, this network of human connections, any better if you tried. Students, think about this: it was only thanks to the long hours of coursework and late-night study that Sr. Stella had the skills and wisdom needed in order to be able to be of service to the people in our islands. Young people: it was only because she was willing to commit herself to this vocation of service, no matter where on the planet it would take her, that she had the strength to keep moving from place to place, meeting people and having to part with others along the way. I am going to guess that at the time that she was taking exams for her counseling degree she did not imagine that one day she would help teenagers out of violent relationships oceans away. I will bet that as she sat on crowded planes and trains around the United States, and to P.I. and back, that she did not know that she was also signing up to comfort girls who were tricked into prostitution, offering that maternal support—that “security blanket”—that so many in the world have received from the consecrated women in our Church who devote their lives to serving others.
“In my religious order, we help people to live dignified lives so that they can become their best selves,” she says. The look on her face when she speaks is everything you need to know: Sister does not regret a thing.
