By CCN Report
ZIMBABWE President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent a message of condolence to the Catholic Church and Maryknoll Sisters Zimbabwe and International following the death of Sister Janice Mclaughlin.
Sister Janice, who had a deep and abiding love of Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular where she used her devout Christian faith to boldly and fearlessly support the liberation struggles, died Sunday.
In his condolence message, President Mnangagwa described her as a close ally of Zimbabwe’s struggle for liberation.
“On behalf of the party Zanu-PF, Government and on my own behalf, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the McLaughlin family and to the family of the Maryknoll Sisters who have lost a loving daughter and devout member respectively. Her leadership in both secular and spiritual realms will be solely missed,” said President Mnangagwa.
He praised Sister Janice for choosing to “leave an otherwise quiet life of an American nun to join rough and dangerous camp life in the jungles of Mozambique where she worked with refugees in our education department.”
“The news of the death of Sister Janice McLaughlin came to me as a great shock. A devout Catholic for whom faith meant the quest for human freedoms, Sister Janice was deported from the then Rhodesia for opposing racial colonial occupation and injustices and for supporting our just liberation struggle.
“Alongside educational work in the camps, she also worked with our Publicity and Information Department where she helped give the liberation struggle an enhanced international voice and reach.
After our independence in 1980 she would resume her higher studies until she attained her doctoral qualification. Her field of study related to frontline missionary work in African struggles, a subject she knew intimately well from personal experience and commitment. She continued to offer her expertise in reshaping schools curricular for a post-colonial Zimbabwe.”
President Mnangagwa said Sister Janice also worked with the late Herbet Mahlaba to foster and strengthen solidarity between sister peoples of Zimbabwe and Mozambique under the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Friendship Association (ZIMOFA).