MEADOWBROOK, Pa. — Sister Pilar Dalmau, director of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Hispanic Ministry during its early years from 1988 to 1996, died Sept. 27, 2021, of complications from COVID-19 at Holy Redeemer Saint Joseph Manor Hospital in Meadowbrook, Pa.
Sister Sagrario Nunez, who wrote a short reflection that was read during the funeral service on Oct. 9, 2021, said that “while remembering Pilar only the words of Ecclesiastes 3 came to mind: ‘There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.’”
Sister Pilar was born in France in 1928 and raised in Havana, Cuba, until 1961, when she fled the country because of the Communist regime.
She came to the United States very young and enthusiastic, full of ideas and potential. Before her arrival in Philadelphia, in 1961, she had already served as a teacher in secondary schools in Cuba and Panama. Teaching was one of her gifts and passions. She taught at the Ancilla Domini Academy in Germantown, Pa.; Bishop McDevitt Diocesan High School and Ancillae-Assumpta Academy in Wyncote, Pa.; and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baltimore. For a few years she served on the staff of the Santa Rafaela Center and also served as provincial secretary.
Her other great passion was accompanying and preparing the Hispanic community to be the next generation of leaders in the Church. In this ministry, she experienced the greatest joy and, at times, the greatest pain.
At a time when the bishops of the country urged American Catholics to open their hearts to the growing Hispanic community, Sister Pilar suffered the indifference and resistance of some Catholics who felt that the attention to the Hispanic community was pushing them aside.
She began serving in Spanish ministry at San Miguel Parish in Philadelphia. According to Sister Sagrario, “among Pilar’s most notable qualities was her ability to organize and clean, but not just clean, but through sweeping, scrubbing and hosing down, transforming the ugliest and dirtiest into beautiful and clean.” She recalled that, “unable to cope with the disorder on the streets of North Philadelphia, she not only cleaned the street herself, but successfully organized a group of volunteers to accompany her in this endeavor.”
From 1985 to 1988, Sister Pilar became director of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Sister Margarita Martin describes her best years in Atlanta: “She was full of devotion and enthusiasm laying the foundation for Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, basically starting from scratch. It was her first experience organizing the Hispanic ministry at the diocesan level.”
In 1988 she responded to a call from the Diocese of Charlotte to serve as director of the nascent Hispanic Ministry. She served here until 1996, when, responding to a request from then Bishop Joseph Galante, she moved to Beaumont, Texas, to become its Hispanic Ministry director.
Finally, from 2003 to 2010, Ella Pilar assumed the direction of the School of Religion at Holy Cross Parish in Atlanta.
According to Sister Sagrario, “She wanted to continue the missionary work of St. Paul, to find and train leaders to continue the work, and then to move on. She was tireless, absolutely dedicated and at the same time very faithful to her community and spiritual life. She worked quietly, humbly and efficiently without expecting recognition.”
The words attributed to St. Oscar Romero aptly described Sister Pilar’s mission: “We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.” This truth gave her a greater purpose, a bigger picture in everything she did, a certain healthy detachment and humility. In her many successes and accolades, she knew well who the master builder was. She was available, she was ready to work where she was needed. And, as Santa Rafaela María said, “She was eager to make Christ known and loved.”
In 2010, she retired from active ministry due to declining health.
Father Fidel Melo, the Charlotte diocese’s former vicar of Hispanic Ministry, remembers Sister Pilar as a “tireless missionary” with “great pastoral sense and solidarity to the Hispanic community.”
“She took the leadership of the community when Hispanic Ministry began to flourish,” Father Melo said, highlighting her commitment to promoting vocations “at all levels, including those who came from outside the country, including mine.”
During her early years in the diocese, he recounted, Mass was celebrated in Spanish at St. Patrick Cathedral before the Hispanic Center (now Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Charlotte) was established.
“Sister Pilar strongly supported the permanent diaconate among Hispanics. Proof of this are Deacons Edwin Rodríguez (now deceased), Rafael Torres and Carlos Medina. Also, the apostolic movements, being the first to grow the Cursillo and the Charismatic Renewal,” Father Melo added.
— Cesar Hurtado, Reporter