This article originally appeared in the September 2004 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter

'Nun On the Run' In Georgia Mission

When Sister Janet Fischer isn’t “on the run,” she spends time with her animals, which include three “foster” dogs as well as Speckles, above, a permanent member of her household.

When Franciscan Sister Janet Fischer is unavailable to answer her phone, her answering machine announces to the caller, “The nun’s on the run!” And run she does! The pastoral associate at Glenmary’s St. Christopher mission in Claxton, Ga., heads the mission’s religious education program, does community outreach, visits hospice patients, coordinates pastoral care with pastor Father Brian LaBurt and much more. But there’s an unusual aspect of her ministry—her involvement with the Evans County Humane Society.

St. Christopher Church is the site for the humane society’s meetings, thanks to Sister Janet, a member of the society. “We were meeting in the courthouse annex,” she says, “but we couldn’t bring our dogs there because of health regulations.” Now that they meet at St. Christopher, the society is able to use their meeting time to introduce dogs to potential adoptive families.

Although most of the members of the local humane society are members of other faith traditions, Sister Janet believes that holding meetings at St. Christopher provides a great witness for the Catholic community. “And having dogs around adds a lot of life to the parish,” says Sister Janet, who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and has always been a dog lover.

Hosting the meetings has led to unexpected benefits. Sister Janet tells of a Saturday when the humane society meeting overlapped slightly with the gathering time for Saturday night Mass. Tanya Beasley, the head of food services in the Claxton schools, is a member of the society. “As Tanya was leaving the meeting, she saw how many Hispanic people came in for Mass,” Sister Janet said. She asked Sister Janet if the Claxton parish could publicize a summer food program aimed at the Hispanic community. Sister Janet was happy to oblige.

In addition to reaching out to the greater community, Sister Janet has a more personal reason for her membership in the Evans County Humane Society—her dogs!

“Right now I have three foster dogs,” she says, as Jetter barks in the background. “I’ve had Jetter for 10 months, Tigger for two months and Josh for about two weeks.” She gathers and sells aluminum cans to help with the expense of her foster dogs who live in animal community with Speckles, a black-brown-white bulldog mix who followed Sister Janet home about three years ago.

“I receive calls every week from people throughout the county inquiring about adopting a dog or giving a dog to the society.” Sister Janet says. “I guess they call me because they see the dogs here.” She figures that’s just another way she has become known in the county where Catholics are still very much in the minority.

Like many humane societies, the Evans County group carefully selects families who want to adopt a dog. “All our dogs are spayed or neutered and people have to fill out questionnaires about why they’re adopting and how they’ll care for the dog,” she says. “If the adoption doesn’t work out, for whatever reason, we simply ask that the family bring the dog back to us, and not just abandon it.”

The activities of the Evans County Humane Society include raising money to build a facility for dogs that have been put up for adoption. The society has also held golf tournaments and dog washes and other events to raise the needed funds for the facility.

Since becoming a Glenmary coworker, Sister Janet has done a lot of things she never thought she’d be doing as a religious. In her 24 years of work in Claxton, she is always finding new ways to become involved in the county and to introduce residents to the Catholic Church. She also finds great enjoyment in working with members of other Christian congregations. “It gives me comfort to see their love for God,” she says.

As a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, Sister Janet has found a unique way to blend the charisms of St. Francis and Glenmary as she cares for all of God’s creatures, two- and four-legged!