Robaird O’Cearbhaill
Hong Kong Correspondent
Full of life at 100, Margaret Shidell is still independent at home, close to her family and happy. She said faith and upbringing have been her treasures. “I have been very blessed. I had wonderful parents and a wonderful church life all of my life.” Her parish priest described Margaret as a “holy, prayerful woman with a heart of gold.”
Interviewed by the American Catholic Life magazine they wrote: “Of course, one of Margaret’s greatest joys is going to Mass.” , even under the Pandemic, if online, but “looking forward” to being in Church again. She added that: “When COVID-19 came along, I was given an iPad so I could watch Mass every day, from anywhere in the world. But watching Mass at St. Mary’s (her local church) is always my favorite. I’m looking forward to when I can be there again in person.”
Her priest Monsignor Joseph Diermeier, the magazine said, praised his parishioner as “the matriarch of the parish” He said: “Margaret is a holy, prayerful woman with a heart of gold,” he said “If I have a special intention that requires prayer, I know that I can count on Margaret to bring the intention before the Lord. She is humble, kind and a Faith-filled woman.” Schidell is a member of the Secular Third Order of St. Francis originally founded by the saint.
Despite her positive, faith-fulfilled outlook, and satisfactory earlier and current life, Shidell’s was not without hard, poor living conditions, family tragedies to overcome.
As a child her family and her uncle and aunty shared the same house – 22 people crammed into two small flats above the family shop with no fresh tap water. The house later burned down. Her father was paralyzed at 40, her priest brother died at 33, the other brother seven years later. Schidell’s husband died of Alzheimers. Shidell said faith got her through those challenges.
“I was born at the end of the last pandemic, the 1918 Spanish flu, and have gone through a lot in my lifetime, including wars and the Great Depression. I thank God for my Faith through the years. When things were so bad, without Faith, I don’t know where I would have been.”
She also said her town’s community neighborly spirit, groomed her attitudes and behaviour too: “I was blessed to have had a wonderful childhood. Lots of neighbors all came together every night to visit with each other,” she recalled. “During the winter, we had sleigh rides and went ice skating. In the summer, there were baseball games. All the neighbors were friends. I wish young people today would be able to have that.”
Schidell has this advice for the young: “Be honest and kind, and love each other. Do the best you can and always put your Faith first. I pray the rosary every night for peace in the world and peace in families. I pray for my children and grandchildren that they all get closer to God. We all need that. My mother always prayed for us; now it’s my turn.”
(Photo courtesy of https://catholiclife.diolc.org/)
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