A funeral liturgy will be held for Sister Grace Miller, the mother of Rochester’s homeless, on Saturday, Nov. 29. The service will take place at 10 a.m. in the chapel of the Mercy Center on Blossom Road. Seating is limited, and the service will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
Sister Grace, who entered the Sisters of Mercy religious order in 1955, died Nov. 20 at 90 years old. She was considered one of Rochester’s most brazen advocates for the city’s unhoused.
Across her lifetime, Sister Grace was undeterred by authority. She was fired twice, arrested half a dozen times and was pushed out of the House of Mercy ― the homeless shelter she founded ― because of her indiscriminate outreach to poor and vulnerable folks living on the fringes of society. She described her efforts as an obligation to show love to the unloved.
That commitment to others continued even from her deathbed: As Sister Grace lay in hospice last month, she watched over video chat as friends and fellow advocates celebrated the opening of a new low-barrier shelter she pioneered. La Madonna Della Strada, it was called. Our Lady of the Streets.
“I’m telling the friends that I have, take care of them out there until I come back out again,” she said this summer. And then, faltering a little as she looked toward her friends for reassurance: “And should something happen to me, I think there are those that will follow through ― right?”
— Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Instagram @bykaylacanne. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Funeral services set for Sister Grace, mother of Rochester homeless
Reporting by Kayla Canne, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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