Obituary of Sister Lupita Barajas

Sister Lupita Barajas, OSB was born on January 24, 1941 in the border town Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. She was the fifth of seven children, 2 boys and 5 girls, born to Juan and Marina (Cardenas) Barajas: Juan, Jr., Rosalva, Amelia (died as an infant at the age of 1), Amelia (named after sibling), Lupita, Luis, and Lourdes. The family was very close-knit and their home served as the center for the large extended family also. When she was fifteen years old, she immigrated to the U.S. with her parents and sisters Amelia and Lourdes and her brother Luis. They moved to just across the border in Nogales, Arizona. She began to attend Nogales Public School where she learned English. Her hobbies during her school years were going out to dances, going to movies, playing records and sewing her own clothes. She graduated from high school in 1962 and worked as a secretary for a company in Nogales, AZ. She joined the Catholic Young Adults Club where she enjoyed many social activities. She attended a Cursillo in Phoenix and it was during this time that she began to think about how she could serve God. She began to attend Mass during the week and was drawn to spend more and more time in quiet and in prayer. She also began to teach catechism at a local parish. A priest in Nogales, Father Padilla, told her about the Benedictines in Tucson and took her to visit one Sunday. “After reading the literature I became interested in our community. What attracted me was the life of prayer. I remember visiting the chapel for the first time and feeling a deep sense of peace. It felt right.” She waited two years before making the decision to enter because it was difficult for her family. She entered Clyde as a postulant on August 8, 1965 at the age of 24. She completed her novitiate in St. Louis and made First Profession in April 1968 at which time she received the name Sister Mary Pia. In June 1971 she made the decision to leave community and was dispensed from her vows. However, the second year she was out, she once again felt called to serve God in a life of prayer and she asked to return to community. Sr. Lupita returned in September of 1973 to the monastery in St. Louis and made First Vows on December 24, 1973. She then transferred to Kansas City where she made Final Profession on October 11, 1975. Sr. Lupita worked at various positions in her early years in community serving in the printery, correspondence dept., kitchen and altar bread dept. She also worked as a bookkeeper and helped with the sewing. In 1978 - 1979 she attended the Institute for Religious Formators (IRF) program in St. Louis. She was then appointed vocation director for the congregation. She lived in the San Diego monastery from 1982 to 1986 after which she was elected to the general council. She served as assistant prioress general to Sr. Karen Joseph for two terms on the council during the years 1986 - 1996. She also continued in the position of congregational vocation director. She held this position for almost 20 years. Sr. Lupita served on the Core group of the American Benedictine Formation Conference for four years. She was also part of the Latino/Hispanic committee of the National Religious Vocation Conference. She moved to Tucson in 2001 and served as subprioress for seven months before she was elected prioress for 2 consecutive terms during the years 2002 - 2008. Lupita then once again served as subprioress in Tucson from 2012 to shortly before her death. Never really leaving vocation work, she served on the Admittance Committee for seminarians and helped evaluate seminarians and transitional deacons in the Tucson Diocese. She also continued to serve as the vocation contact for the Tucson monastery and hosted many Come and See weekends and week long Monastic Experiences. In the spring of 2014 she was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the liver for which there was no cure. Her mother, an older brother and her youngest sister also died from this disease. Choosing not to prolong life with a possible liver transplant, she opted to let nature take its course and for God to decide when it was time for her to go home. From the diagnosis on she was at peace, quietly living each day and being present to the community as much as she was able. Her cheerful demeanor never left her and she accepted her death with a quiet dignity and joyful spirit. Throughout her whole life Sr. Lupita was known for her warm and welcoming personality. We all say and want our lives to be about meeting God and being ready to meet God...Sr. Lupita really was. Her last days were spent under hospice care at the monastery in Tucson where she was visited by family and numerous friends who wanted to say goodbye. The week of July 7th brought a very noticeable diminishment in her condition. On the morning of July 14th, suspecting her death was imminent, several sisters gathered around her and sang the Suscipe while she breathed her last. Her brother Luis and sister Amelia were also with her. Sr. Lupita was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Juan Barajas, Jr., her infant sister Amelia and her sister Lourdes Barajas. She is survived by her sisters Rosalva Gerardo, Amelia Mankel and brother Luis Barajas. The funeral mass was held July 19th in the monastery chapel at Tucson with the burial of the cremains taking place at a later date at the cemetery of the monastery in Clyde, MO.