Sister Dorothy Brogan celebrates 50 years as Sister of Bon Secours

COLUMBIA — Sister Dorothy Brogan, chaplain for St. Francis HomeCare, celebrated her 50th anniversary as a member of the Sister of Bon Secours this year.
Sister Brogan entered the Sisters of Bon Secours in 1952 after volunteering with sisters at a local hospital and visiting with the Sisters of Bon Secours at a home for infirm priests.
“I felt a great attraction to the spirit the Sisters of Bon Secours seemed to have,” Sister Brogan says. “The spirit and joy of the sisters caring for the sick touched me.”
The mission of the Sisters of Bon Secours, and of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, is to bring compassion to health care and provide good help to those in need, especially the poor and dying.
“The original mission of our founding sisters is alive and needed as much today as it was in 1824,” Sister Brogan said.
After working as a nurse with cancer and hospice patients, she says she knew she was in the right place because Bon Secours’ mission aligned with her beliefs and gifts.
“I always believed this was the right community for me because I’ve been given a gift for working with the sick and dying and their families,” she said. “I’m doing what God wants me to do.
“In my ministry with the sick and dying, I often receive more than I give. I see God’s work very alive in the faith and courage of the sick,” she said. “These encounters, moments of being with those who suffer, nourish and deepen my own faith and love for God.”
During her 50 years as a Sister of Bon Secours, Sister Brogan has served as a nurse for cancer patients, a vocational director, a hospice chaplain, and a nurse in a clinic in Ecuador, South America.
She is a chaplain in the Spiritual Care program at St. Francis HomeCare and is president of the St. Francis Foundation board.