Family and friends celebrated the life of Sarah Ann McNeely Fitz on Jan. 18 at Corpus Christi’s Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House on 210 Carrizo Street. She is best remembered for feeding, clothing, and sheltering homeless men and women from the 1990s to the present day.
Her house on Carrizo has also been a meeting place for those who want recovery, following the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. She had many friends and sponsored many women in recovery. Fitz was a living example of working and living the AA way of life.
Her family and friends gathered around a small campfire in the backyard of her house and prayed prayers that were dear to her heart: the Catholic Worker Prayer, “Make us worthy, Lord,” written by Mother Teresa, which was also the prayer her team of volunteers would pray before serving breakfast; and the “Prayer of St. Francis,” which she prayed with the people in need of a hot meal.
The group joined their voices and sang, “Amazing Grace” and Fitz’s favorite song, “Love lifted me*,” by John Newton. They shared fond memories of their friend, mother and grandmother.
Longtime friend and Catholic Worker, Sister Rosa Ortiz, with the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament (IWBS), read “Sermon on the Mount” from her Bible and shared a memory of meeting Fitz for the first time.
She was a novice and was assigned to talk with Fitz to learn about the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House. She remembers Fitz saying, “they are not homeless people, they are people of God, who happen to be homeless.”
Impressed by the heart of this small elderly woman with a twinkle in her blue eyes, Sister Rosa and other IWBS sisters, would invite students from Incarnate Word Academy and later St. Philip Parish to help serve during Sunday’s breakfast.
Ann has touched many hearts over the years, some living and some who have since passed on. All of us will remember her legacy of faith and love.
* “Love Lifted Me” is also the title of a book recently collected by Catholic Worker, Marie Adams. These writings by Ann Fitz had been published in the
South Texas Catholic newspaper for some 30 years.