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Retired sisters offer to
tutor inner-city youth
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 13, 2006
Detroit – Some religious sisters who once taught classrooms packed with dozens of children are finding a new ministry in one-on-one tutoring through the Epiphany Education Center on Detroit's east side.
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Sr. Marie Cyril Delisi, IHM, a tutor at Epiphany Education Center on Detroit's east side, works with Makai Polk, 10,a fourth-grader at Bethany Lutheran Elementary School. | With multiple master's degrees and around five decades of teaching experience each, the IHM and Adrian Dominican sisters involved in the project are hoping to make a difference in a poverty-stricken area of Detroit (ZIP Code 48213) where four out of five children do not graduate from high school, according to statistics cited by Bro. Francis Boylan, CSC.
Most of the schools where the sisters served as teachers or administrators are gone now. For Sr. Alice Baker, IHM, 10 of the 12 schools she taught at have closed. But tutoring provides an excellent way to put talents to work in their semi-retirement years, said Sr. Mary Kay Moran, OP, who most recently taught at Dominican High School, which closed last year.
Speaking of herself and three of the others sisters involved, Sr. Moran said, "We have close to 200 years of experience between us, and we've kind of seen it all."
The sisters are offering their tutoring services to elementary school students, and while donations are gladly accepted, there is no charge for the program. Considering that private professional tutoring programs can cost about $2,000, that is an important benefit for students living in the poorest ZIP Code in Michigan, an area where 85 percent of births are to single mothers (although residency in 48213 is not a requirement for acceptance in the program).
The only requirement is that the child must be willing to do the work required. "We won't take children unless they want to be here," said Sr. Marie Cyril Delisi, IHM, who most recently taught at St. Ambrose and St. Matthew elementaries.
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Holding some of the learning tools they use in their work as tutors at Epiphany Education Center are (from left) IHM Srs. Marie Cyril Delisi, Alice Baker and Mary Laird, and Adrian Dominican Sr. Mary Kay Moran. | But for those children willing to invest the time and effort, the results can be seen in a matter of weeks. "One of the girls was telling me the other day how she sees the progress she has made, and how she feels good about herself now," Sr. Delisi added.
Epiphany Education Center began operation in November in Samaritan Center, the former Detroit Mercy Hospital building on Conner near Interstate 94 that is now home to a wide variety of Church-related agencies as well as other tenants. It accepted 13 pupils for the fall, but the hope is to increase that to 36 this year.
Sr. Baker – a veteran of St. Ambrose, St. Jude and East Catholic elementary schools, among others — said the center went from idea to reality in a matter of months, as the sisters investigated similar programs in other areas and found other organizations willing to help. She told how Bro. Boylan, executive director of Holy Cross Children's Services, offered them a suite of rooms in Samaritan Center and helped outfit the space.
And Sr. Baker said the generosity of the Kiwanis Club of Detroit made it possible for them to go to an educational materials warehouse and select more than 700 books.
Sr. Mary Laird, IHM, who spent 27 of her more than 50 years of teaching at St. Ambrose Elementary, remarked, "The Lord has just let everything fall into place – things just keep happening."
Sr. Moran also sees the hand of God in the way Epiphany Education Center has developed. "It seemed every time our bank balance would go down to almost nothing, the mail would come and there would be a check for more than we needed. People say there aren't miracles in this day and age; well, God is working in this world – He's working right here in this neighborhood," she said.
Among the challenges the sisters have encountered is helping the children learn to communicate with others.
 To help
Tax-deductible donations to benefit Epiphany Education Center, affiliated with the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, can be made out to DCPA. Put the center's name on the memo line. Mail to: Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, 9200 Gratiot Ave., Detroit 48213.
| Sr. Moran attributed the problem to too much television watching and absorption with video games, and not enough traditional play with other children. And Sr. Laird said this change in the way children occupy their time has also restricted their artistic creativity.
In their methods, the sisters stress phonics to improve reading skills, and emphasize learning the multiplication tables.
"I give them what they need to make them succeed, and then push them to do more," Sr. Baker said.
For more information about Epiphany Learning Center, call (313) 267-1830.
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