Nearly 1,000 attend bilingual Mass to remember Sister Cathy Gorman and her work

'We want to keep her legacy going,' community says of Apopka nun

By Eloísa Ruano González Orlando Sentinel

Everyone had a story to tell about Sister Cathy Gorman. The fervent Apopka nun had touched the lives of thousands of migrant farmworkers and poor and disenfranchised families. Her relentless devotion to her community is one residents will never forget.

Gorman battled for human rights and equality. And for a moment Saturday, she accomplished that. About a thousand people from all walks of life poured into St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church for a bilingual Mass to remember the work Gorman did with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and to thank her one last time.

Gorman died Jan. 5, two months shy of her retirement party, from heart failure. She was 65.

"She was passionate to see farmworkers get fair pay. … She wanted to see kids grow up and go to college," said Elizabeth Garcia, who the nun mentored.

Garcia, who was the first in her family to go to college, was collecting signatures for a petition on immigration reform — something Gorman dreamed about.

"We want to keep her legacy going. We want her to see from the sky and say, 'They're doing this. They're making our dream come true," said Garcia, a sophomore at Seminole State College.

Gorman had been bound to a wheelchair for the last four years. Still, the street warrior never slowed down. Although she could no longer walk when students at Apopka High School marched in support for the DREAM Act, proposed federal legislation that would pave the road to U.S. residency for undocumented students, she cheered them on.

"She never lost hope. She found energy," said Sister Ann Kendrick, who arrived in Apopka in 1971 with Gorman. The nuns were in their 20s when they arrived at the wary farm-working community. They quickly earned migrants' trust working beside them in the fields.

Gorman also was the most reliable person anyone could count on, particularly the young, her caregiver, Laura Escareno, 37, said. "She would move mountains to find a way to help people."

The Apopka nuns helped launch the Office for Farmworker Ministry. They created a medical clinic, a food co-op, an AIDS outreach program, a low-income housing program and a credit union, where they had youths work as tellers and loan officers to learn about finance. In 2007, Gorman's dream came true. They opened the $1.7 million Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka after years of lobbying and fundraising.

Gorman, who had taught at a Baltimore inner-city school before moving to Central Florida, was firm. Her resilience pulled Arcadio Espinosa of Apopka from a miserable life of drugs and alcohol. He had been a troubled man when he met Gorman in 1986. She pushed him to look for more in life.

"She finished the job my mother didn't do," said Espinosa, who is 45 and a father of three. After Gorman reached out to him, Espinosa started to help other troubled youths in Central Florida.

There was a lighter and humorous side to Gorman. She loved to dress up on her favorite holiday — Halloween. Kendrick said one year they dressed up like nuns. Another time, Gorman took dibs on a Minnie Mouse costume, leaving Kendrick with Mickey.

"Cathy lived life big, large and loud," Kendrick said during the memorial service.

This nun could dance. Before her illness, Gorman kicked off parties with her moves to Mexican ranchera and Latin-American dances, Espinosa said.

"Cathy was Irish. Sometimes she didn't know if she was Mexican or Puerto Rican," Kendrick said during the funeral service.

Bishop Thomas Wenski, who led the memorial service, remembered when Gorman and the other nuns arrived at his seminary in Texas with a van full of Apopka farmworkers, who had hitched a ride to visit relatives in the Lone Star State.

But Gorman did more than just extend a hand. She taught people about the importance of community service. It is a legacy her community vowed to keep going.

"We're still going to keep her alive in our hearts," Garcia said.