Sally Butler was born in 1931 in New York. When she graduated from high school, she joined the novitiate preparing for a life of service to her faith. She would also earn a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees. In addition, she was an excellent pianist and organist.
Sister Butler went on to teach high school. An opportunity to minister to the African American and Latino community in Brooklyn showed her that God had other plans for her.
She and two other nuns were called upon to help the residents of the housing projects connect to social services. Sister Butler became especially close to a single mother and her son, Carlos. When the mother died, Sister Butler had promised to look after 12-year-old Carlos.
She arranged for him to move into the rectory to live with several other boys under the guidance of priests. The arrangement started out well, but tensions began to emerge between the priests and the nuns.
When Sister Butler reported on one of the priests for his alcoholism and abusive temper, she and another nun were fired and forced to leave the rectory. It was years later that Sister Butler learned that the boys under the care of the priests were being abused. When she tried to have the sons come forth with their experience, they refused. They were struggling with drugs and one had died from AIDS.
Sister Butler and colleagues went to the chancellor of the dioceses. He promised to help but did nothing. When the Boston Globe broke a story of similar abuse in the Boston area, Sister Butler reached out to the reporter who did a similar investigation in Brooklyn.
Sister Butler became a pariah to those she worked with in the church. As time passed, Sister Butler and others became known for their courage in righting a wrong. Pope Francis, has called sexual abuse “demonic”.
Sister Butler died in 2024 at the age of 93. Just imagine the courage that she must have had to become such an advocate for righting a wrong. Through her actions, she was a living model of what a Christian life should be. She has provided a lesson to all of us that fighting for what is right can often be difficult. But if we have faith, our fight will lead to an outcome that is what God had intended.
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“Sally didn’t have a fear in the world about standing up to anybody who stood in the way of justice. She had a deep faith that God would take care of everything, but we had to do the work.”–Robert Hoatson (former priest and abuse survivor)