Sister Deborah Isaacs remembered as servant of refugees, trafficking victims
By Agnieszka Krawczynski
A Vancouver sister with a heart for refugees and victims of human trafficking has died, and with her passing comes the end of an era for her congregation.
Sister Deborah Isaacs, RGS, was the last Sister of the Good Shepherd living and serving in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
“The call of the Gospel to effect change was important to her,” said Sister Maureen Kunz, RGS, who lives in the U.S. but occasionally serves in a Richmond parish.
“She was for anybody who was a refugee or a trafficked person.”
Sister Isaacs was born on Canada Day in 1946 and raised in Montreal. A convert, she joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, taking her first vows at age 33. She took her final vows in 1984 and spent the next several years living in Windsor, Ont., and near Montreal as a contemplative nun.
The Sisters of the Good Shepherd is one of a few congregations with both contemplative and apostolic sisters, said Sister Kunz.
“The contemplative sisters’ big task is to pray for the missions the apostolic sisters are involved in and to pray for healing in the world.”
In 1996, after years as a contemplative, Sister Isaacs decided to move to more active ministry. She began reaching out to refugees through a short-term emergency shelter in Montreal for women, children, and unaccompanied minors.
In 2002, Sister Isaacs brought her passion for social justice to the west coast. She became a coordinator of Vancouver’s Separated Children Intervention and Orientation Network (SCION), which reaches out to children who are under 18, outside their home country, and far from their parents.
She also became a member of the Canadian Council for Refugees and other refugee and anti-human trafficking advocacy groups, and was invited to speak at conferences and panel discussions. From 2009 to 2011, she worked in the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Service and Justice Office.
“She was such a credit to the church out in the public,” said Daniel Hahn, who was the director of that office at the time.
Sister Isaacs handled refugee sponsorship applications and would welcome newcomers at the airport. “A large percentage of people who came to Canada as refugees from Iraq came through our office,” he said.
“She had such a big heart for people,” including trafficking victims, said Hahn. Sister Isaacs was known for speaking out against prostitution and would personally visit women on the streets.
Years after she retired, Sister Isaacs would return to the archdiocese’s John Paul II Pastoral Centre for daily Mass. She died Dec. 12 after a long illness. She had been a Sister of the Good Shepherd for 36 years.
Prayers were offered Dec. 20 and the funeral Mass was Dec. 21 at Holy Name of Jesus Church.
