2 nuns slain in Mississippi died ‘doing God’s work’
DURANT, Miss. — People in the Mississippi community where two nuns were killed this week say they are having a hard time finding forgiveness, even though that's what the sisters would have wanted.
Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill, both 68, were nurse practitioners who dedicated their lives to providing health care to people in the poorest county in the state.
Joe Morgan Jr. says he was a patient of Merrill and last saw her about four months ago.
“Right now, I don’t see no forgiveness on my heart,” said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker.
He said Merrill would want him to forgive whoever killed the women, but he hopes the perpetrator is arrested, convicted and executed.
“She doesn’t deserve to die like this, doing God’s work,” Morgan said, shaking his head. “There’s something wrong with the world.”
On Friday, Morgan went to Lexington Medical Clinic where the sisters worked as nurses in hopes of talking to grieving staff members, but a handwritten sign in the front door says the clinic is closed until Monday.
Authorities have not said how the women were killed, but the Rev. Greg Plata of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, where the nuns had led Bible study for years, said police told him they were stabbed.
The state posted a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
The Catholic Diocese of Jackson says a wake will be held Sunday for for the sisters at St. Thomas Church in Lexington. A memorial Mass is scheduled Monday at the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle in Jackson.
Mary Woodward, the diocesan chancellor, says the memorial service will be "an opportunity for the diocesan community and friends to celebrate the lives of these two remarkable women."
Plata said both nuns’ religious communities have asked that people pray for the killer or killers. Asked about people’s struggles to forgive, the priest said: “Forgiveness is at the heart of being a Christian. Look at Jesus on the cross: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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