Let the Women Be Heard

 Photo was taken at Mary Jane's "Goodbye Party" on Nov. 16, 1996 in Warwick, RI.  When Mary Jane was told the Cancer in her breast had spread to her bones, she decided to throw herself a "Goodbye Party".  Mary Jane and the rest of the attendees had a marvelous time.  Mary Jane lived ever moment of life until she left for her new life on Dec. 16, 2004.
Left to Right:   Eleanor, Ann Marie, Mary Jane (in the center, in white) Mary Beth, and Susan - all strong, proud women of the Class of 1965 - St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing, NY, NY


Mary Jane was one of a kind.   She was brilliant and creative and dramatic and loving.   The following poem is hers.  I believe the final line of her poem is a prophecy.  Now, more than ever, it is our time to light up the Church.

I Will Tiptoe 

by Mary Jane Sassone Jarkowsky (2002)

Introibo ad altare dei

Ad deum qui laetificat juven tutem meum

I will go unto the altar of God

Unto God who giveth joy to my youth

So began the ancient words of the Tridentine Mass

I am 12 years old

I am a Catholic Schoolgirl

I have known Latin since I was six

My soul hunger and my very life itself feed on

Novenas benediction Solemn High Mass Gregorian chant

The rosary and the Stations of the Cross

Daily after school I visit Jesus

Lonely in his golden tabernacle

Amidst the flickering red votive candles

My head shrouded

By a lace mantilla

Darkness falls early that November

I am astonished when my father

Who volunteers as the church sexton

Asks me to turn on the church lights

Could it be he does not know the rules?

But Daddy

I can’t go beyond the Communion rail

You know

Because I am a girl!

Daughter

The lights have to be turned on

And there are no boys

No boys to do it

And so the job falls to me…..a girl

To fulfill the honor and duty I owe my father

I will dare to enter the Holy of Holies

The nuns are allowed to do it

Care for the altar clothes

Arrange the flowers

Scrape dried wax off the candle holders

For they are the Brides of Christ

I will do it because Jesus is my friend

I will turn the lights on for Him

Even though feminine flesh defiles the Holy of Holies

I will break sacred tradition

Going back thousands of years

Back to Moses and the Arc of the Covenant

I will figure out how

To least offend God by my presence

First I will apologize to God

For being a girl

Then I will remind God

There are no boys

No boys to do it

Opening ever so reverently the gates

I will step across the barrier to the sanctuary

 I will hold my breath

If I do not breath I will be invisible

And lest my feet desecrate the sanctified area

I will tiptoe

Across the Turkish carpet and Italian marble floors

Before the tabernacle

I will tiptoe

I will tiptoe

I will tiptoe

And light up the Church