Two diocesan parishioners volunteer in healing waters at Lourdes

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
October 5, 2004

When most people think of service trips to foreign countries, they envision caring for impoverished people in a Third World country. However two parishioners from the diocese had quite a different experience. They recently returned from serving in the healing waters at the shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.

It was at Lourdes that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to a 14-year-old peasant named Bernadette. It was during the ninth apparition on Feb. 25, 1858 that the spring began to flow and since that time millions have been attracted to the site.

The two women who volunteered at Lourdes are JoAnne Potter of Sioux City and Sue Wind of Jefferson. They are cousins. Both women mentioned that they were drawn to Lourdes because of a family experience.

Their great-grandmother, the late Helene Ahmann of Remsen, had taken her seventeenth child to Lourdes in hopes of a cure. The doctors had told Helene that her daughter, Helen, who was born in 1913, was going blind. Other doctors gave the same diagnosis. The Ahmanns sixteenth child had succumbed to illness and was blind. He died at the age of three.

According to the family story, Helene asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to allow Helen to keep enough sight so that she would be able to support herself as an adult. Upon a subsequent visit to the doctor, he said Helen's sight was far better than before. In thanksgiving, the family raised money to build the shrine - a replica of the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes - that is still present at St. Mary's in Remsen. Although Helen wore thick glasses and was legally blind, she received training as a practical nurse and was able to support herself.

"After I heard my family's story, I thought it would be such a blessing to travel to Lourdes to see this place where people had been cured," noted Wind.

Potter mentioned that she also had a strong desire to visit the shrine.

"There have been 66 proven miracles in Lourdes that the church has recognized," she said. Thousands of others have claimed miracles. "In addition to physical healings, there can be spiritual healings."

Three years ago Wind had signed up for a pilgrimage that was planned by Father Dan Guenther with visits to Fatima, Spain shrines and Lourdes. To her surprise, her cousin, JoAnne, and JoAnne's husband, Eugene, were also scheduled to take part in the trip. A year later, in 2004, the three made another pilgrimage to the shrines of France. That trip was also with Father Guenther.

Wind explained that she felt called to go back to Lourdes. One day she explained that after shutting off her television, it popped back on. The woman in charge of North American Lourdes Volunteers, whose sole purpose is organizing pilgrimage trips to Lourdes, was talking on EWTN.

"Shortly after that, I saw JoAnne and Eugene at a family gathering. I was reluctant to tell them about my TV coming back on all by itself. They listened with great interest about my wondering if God was calling me to be a volunteer at Lourdes, and didn't even tell me I was crazy. JoAnne had not seen the EWTN program, but had actually been thinking about volunteering at Lourdes herself," said Wind.

Both worked in the baths, called Piscines. There are 10 women's baths, six men's baths and separate children's baths. The water in the baths is piped in from the mountain spring.

"We worked about six-and-one-half to seven hours a day," noted Potter. Volunteers helped the people dress in a cloth and with the immersion in the water. She mentioned that some people came in wheelchairs. These people would be put on a stretcher and carried to the water by six people.

Some people had physical ailments which were noticeable and others were not as apparent. Potter noted that some came seeking spiritual or emotional healing.

"When they came out of the water, they were so very emotional," she said. "The Europeans like to kiss on both cheeks - I've never been kissed so much."

Wind said for several years now she has turned her life over to God and this experience affirmed her belief in the guidance she has received from God.

"This was a very challenging volunteer experience," she said. "It was physically and emotionally demanding for me to be a volunteer in the baths. I was dealing with exhaustion and a lack of sleep while in Lourdes. At one point in time, I became very emotional and went to the Eucharistic adoration chapel just to talk to Jesus and ask for help in a troubling situation. I was amazed that answers were given to me right then and there. My faith was definitely strengthened by the experience."

On any given day there are 25,000 to 30,000 visiting the shrine. About 6 million pilgrims tour Lourdes each year. While some of the tourists opt to be immersed in the waters, many others wash their hands or feet with the water that flows from about 30 faucets. Many people take containers of water home with them.

In addition to working in the baths, Potter explained that some of the North American volunteers were assigned to housekeeping at facilities that housed pilgrims. Many male volunteers help pilgrims with their luggage and organize crowd control.

There were 35 in this group of North American Lourdes Volunteers.

"The other people in the group were such faith-filled people, and it was inspirational for us to share our various faith experiences with each other throughout the week," said Wind.

Potter and Wind helped lead the rosary at one of the basilicas. They were impressed by the faithfulness of the people.

"I would like to go again next year, but I don't know if it will happen," said Potter. "I put it in Mary's hands and we'll have to wait and see."

Wind said she felt blessed to have been able to serve as a volunteer at Lourdes.