The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Killing of 2 nuns leaves gaping hole in poor Miss. community
LEXINGTON, MISS. — In the poverty-stricken Mississippi county where two nuns were slain this week, forgiveness for their killer is hard to find, even if forgiveness is what the victims would have wanted.
Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill were nurse practitioners who dedicated their lives to providing health care to people in the poorest county in the state. And as authorities search for the killer, many residents wonder how they will fill the hole the women’s deaths have left.
“Right now, I don’t see no forgiveness on my heart,” said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker who has diabetes and was a patient of Merrill’s at the clinic where the two nuns worked.
He said Merrill would want him to forgive whoever killed her and Held, 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.”
The women, both 68, were found dead at their home Thursday morning after they failed to show up for work at the clinic, where they gave flu shots, dispensed insulin and provided other free medical care for children and adults who can’t afford to pay for it.
Their stolen car was found abandoned a mile from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven’t disclosed a motive.
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.
Plata said both nuns’ religious communities have asked that people pray for the killer or killers. Asked about people’s struggles to forgive, he 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.’ ”