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Today’s missionary hero is a woman of our times who gave her all for the Lord. Her name was Ita Ford.
Ita Ford was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on April 23, 1940. Her father was an insurance man who retired early because of tuberculosis, and her mother was a public-school teacher. She also had an older brother, William and a younger sister, Irene.
Even in high school, Ita knew she wanted to become a Catholic Sister, specifically a Maryknoll missionary. Interestingly, one of her relatives, Francis Xavier Ford, was the first seminarian that the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers ever had, and he eventually became a missionary in China. In time, he became a bishop and died in a Communist prison camp in 1952.
After graduating from college, Ita was accepted by the Maryknoll Sisters when she was 21. Three years later, however, she had to leave because of poor health.
So, for 7 years, Ita worked as an editor at a publishing company before re-joining Maryknoll in 1971. After serving in Bolivia in 1972, Sr. Ita moved to Chile where she worked with the poor. There, she met and became close friends with Maryknoll Sister Carla Piette.
From 1978-1979, Ita spent a “reflection year” in the United States before taking her final vows. When that year was over, she decided to answer the call of Archbishop Oscar Romero (now a saint), to help the Church in El Salvador. Interestingly enough, Carla also decided to go to El Salvador. Sr. Carla arrived in El Salvador on the day Oscar Romero was martyred, and Ita arrived on the day of Oscar Romero’s funeral.
During the time Sisters Carla and Ita were in El Salvador, a civil war was rocking the country. Carla and Ita spent their time burying the dead, transporting priests who were marked for death to safety, consoling the children, and doing whatever needed to be done. Then, on August 22, 1980, as Sisters Carla and Ita were returning home from transporting a former prisoner to his hometown, their truck was caught in a flash flood. Sr. Carla was able to push tiny Sr. Ita out the window to save her life, but Sr. Carla drowned.
Unfortunately, however, Sr. Ita would not have long to live. For on the night of December 2, 1980, government death squads would kill Sr. Ita and three companions, Maryknoll Sr. Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sr. Dorothy Kazel, and lay missioner Jean Donovan. Both Sr. Dorothy and Jean were members of the Diocese of Cleveland mission team.
Books about Ita include: Here I am Lord: The Letters & Writings of Ita Ford by Jeanne Evans; The Same Fate as the Poor by Judith Noone; and Ita Ford: Missionary Martyr by Phyllis Zagano.
The power of love.