PARK CITY — Holy Cross Sister Margo Cain planned her own funeral Mass, selecting readings from Isaiah and Luke’s Gospel about the disciples who meet the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus. She chose joyful music about meeting God, faith, and trust in God’s mercy. The former administrator of Holy Cross Hospital and executive director of Catholic Community Services of Utah, Sr. Margo was instrumental in the formation of the Diocesan Office of the Diaconate and Holy Cross Ministries. Her final assignment was as director of pastoral ministry for St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Park City. She was remembered first at a memorial Mass April 23, then at a remembrance brunch following, as a woman of great gift whose love for God was equalled by her dedication to the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City and its mission to the poor and the disenfranchised. Msgr. Robert J. Bussen, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, began his homily by thanking the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross for their "long history of commitment to the peoples of Utah... We would not be the Catholic Church in Utah without you. And none has served more valiantly, sacrificed more than you, who for generations came to our harsh desert to proclaim and live the Gospel." Sr. Margo was a member of the Congregation for 47 years, most of them spent in health care, administration, and social services. She died April 12 in Park City. Always an advocate for others, her life was also celebrated at a funeral Mass April 19 in Notre Dame, Ind., and the memorial Mass in Park City, which drew her colleagues in social services from around the state, women religious from throughout the Diocese and from other areas where she had served, family members, and many whose lives she had touched. Fr. Bussen said, when asked to describe Sr. Margo in one word, he chose the word "faithful." In a statement made after Communion, Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald recalled the answer Sr. Margo gave whenever she was asked to take on another ministry in Utah: "Why else do you think we’re here?" He told those gathered of the many spontaneous prayers for Sr. Margo that were offered during the weekend’s Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Convention in Ogden. Shortly before her death, Msgr. Fitzgerald said, the two shared a laughter-filled conversation about the many people they knew in common whom she would meet "in eternity." Holy Cross Sister Judith Hallock, area coordinator of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross for North America, spoke of the pain the people of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish must be feeling after the loss last year of Deacon Aniceto Armendariz, and now, Sr. Margo. Community Activist Pamela Atkinson told the Intermountain Catholic, "Sr. Margo was the most wonderful, compassionate, caring woman I’ve ever met. She lived fully the teachings of Christ, and she did her job so well. She taught us all how to follow Christ." At the remembrance brunch hosted by the parish, friends and colleagues sang and shared their favorite stories about Sr. Margo. Sr. Margo also selected the poem (above) for her prayer card, written by Holy Cross Sister M. Madeleva.
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