Religious sister takes mobile care through the mountains to reach sick and uninsured
2024-2025 Lumen Christi Award finalist: Sister Mary Lisa Renfer from the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee
What does it mean to say that we behold the face of Our Lord in the Poor? It is not a memory or a picture. It is not a product of our imagination.
To see the face of the Lord in the poor is to experience a dynamic connection. When we see the face of Our Lord in the poor, we know all at once that the wounds of the poor are the wounds of Jesus, and we feel a call to heal our own spiritual wounds caused by isolation and indifference. We are compelled to act as Jesus, to stand in solidarity with the suffering and to muster our resources to act.
A mission built on mercy
Sister Mary Lisa Renfer learned the lessons of what it means to see Jesus, to know Jesus and to act like Jesus throughout her life. She was one of seven children growing up in a Detroit suburb.
After her sophomore year in college, while attending a mission trip to Ecuador where she encountered abused children, she responded to the call to see the face of Christ in the poor. She felt called to join the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, choosing mercy as both her religious profession and the habit of her heart.
Her religious community follows the charism of Venerable Mother McAuley, who founded the sisters in Dublin in 1831. Sister Mary Lisa was sent to Michigan State University, where she completed her doctor of osteopathic medicine.
This unique fusion of a medical degree and religious vocation prepared Sister Mary Lisa to become the medical director of St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic (SMLC), based in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The first indication that one is beholding something special in Sister Mary Lisa’s ministry is her clinic’s sign, which reads: “Extending the Healing Ministry of Jesus to East Tennessee.” The sign is on the side of a 40-foot-long, three-axle, 10-wheel, custom-made, diesel-run doctor’s office complete with on-board computers, a treatment room, a health assessment station and a lab.
And that is only the smallest fraction of what makes SMLC such a wonder. Although Sister Mary Lisa does not yet have her commercial driver’s license (she said it’s on her 2024 to-do list), she is clearly the driver of this mobile ministry to those who have little-to-no access to health care in the poorest counties in rural eastern Tennessee.
Standing in solidarity with the poor
Sister Mary Lisa’s patients come from the peripheries. Seventy-two percent of them live in extreme poverty and lack insurance and basic health care. They suffer the afflictions of the poor—diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease and lung disease. Acute vision and dental needs abound
The vast majority of her patients are not Catholic. In fact, their first exposure to the Catholic Church is often Sister Mary Lisa, her staff of six and a team of 100 active volunteers. There perhaps could be no better introduction to the Catholic Church than to see their love in action.
The clinic covers a lot of ground. Last year the clinic traveled nearly 11,000 miles in order to bring free, high-quality health care to the poor. SMLC has 10 locations and will conduct over 1,500 patient visits this year alone with the help of a network of 100 healthcare professionals who lend their medical expertise to the mission.
Pope Francis said, “Even when healing is not possible, care can always be given.” Sister Mary Lisa exemplifies this by walking with each patient in each of their unique circumstances. She never separates the healing of the body from the ministry to the soul. She said,
Jesus comes to meet you in each person. Sometimes I can’t fix them, but I have to walk with them. And the more you walk with them, the more you know how to help.”
One woman returned to society from a long incarceration and came to the clinic. She had received no medical care in jail and was diagnosed with liver disease. Sister Mary Lisa prescribed palliative care, but the disease was too far along for treatment. She said she could not fix the liver disease, but that she could walk with the woman.
Sister Mary Lisa told her about guardian angels, and the woman said, “You mean, I’m not alone all the time?” And Sister Mary Lisa, it turns out, became one of the woman’s guardian angels, making sure she was not alone during the woman’s last journey to God. Care can always be given.
Sister Mary Lisa Renfer sees the face of Our Lord in the poor. It is her habit. Her ministry is a Spirit-filled activism to which she gives her all. Our Catholic faith comes alive when we stand in solidarity with those who suffer, and Sister Mary Lisa shows us the way.
Catholic Extension Society is honored to share the story of Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, a finalist for our Lumen Christi Award. This award is our highest honor given to people who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present in the communities where they serve. Visit this page to read the other inspiring stories from this year’s finalists.
