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There are many front lines in a war, and none is more important than another. That's how Mary Rizzo, the development coordinator for the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters in Reading, Pa., found herself battling the Ebola crisis in Liberia, even though she was nearly 5,000 miles away.
The Bernardines only have one sister in Liberia, but she's vital: It's Sr. Mary Laurene Browne, president of the Catholic-run Stella Maris Polytechnic university in Monrovia.
In August, Rizzo said, Brown asked if the congregation could send gloves and masks and maybe $5,000 to purchase linens and other supplies to help deal with the emerging outbreak.
The plan was to work with other men and women religious in Liberia to educate people on ways to prevent the spread of Ebola, train health care workers and eventually reopen the hospital that had closed.
