Some 40 years ago, actor Bill Murray was at Haliburton’s Camp White Pine, filming Meatballs.
On Thursday, May 2, Bill’s sibling, Sister Nancy Murray, will be performing a one-woman play about the story of Sister Dorothy Stang, a missionary who worked in Brazil.
The event is co-sponsored by St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Lakeside Church and Environment Haliburton.
“An interesting timeline connection between the filming of Meatballs and the life of Dorothy Stang is that both were beginning their own part of the journey at about the same time,” the organizers said.
Stang, from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was martyred in 2005. She was an outspoken advocate for the poor and for the protection of the Amazon rainforest. The 90-minute play “chronicles the life and death of Sr. Dorothy, who shared the love of the land and the forest with the people of Brazil, using some of the footage of the BBC report made after Stang’s tragic death,” organizers said.
Stang had lived with the people of the land, standing with the compesinos, (farmers), as they were being threatened by big business. She held the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew in her hands as she herself was threatened at gunpoint. Hired men shot her six times, sending shockwaves into the forest and across the world.
Murray has performed more than 900 one-woman plays around the world about holy women like St. Catherine of Siena and Stang.
“She brings to life the stories of their lives while she connects the message of justice and faith to the community,” organizers said. “She draws a link from this woman of courage to us in our own communities. She shares the life of Sr. Dorothy as an example of integrity amidst the challenges of climate change with communities who are searching for justice.”
The performance is at 7 p.m. at the Lakeside Church, 9 Park St. in Haliburton. A donation at the door of $10 per person or $25 per family is suggested. For more information, contact any member of the co- sponsoring groups or Jean Schlicklin-Tyler at 705-457-2214. Jean is a local friend of Sr. Nancy from their Dominican community in Michigan.
