Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters

By Paul Siegfried
OLVM Communications Coordinator

In the many years of her ministry as a chaplain at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., Sister Dolores Tringl has seen her share of tragedy.
But nothing had prepared her for what happened last Saturday.

   Sister Dolores, a member of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, was on her regular 12-hour shift at the hospital when she got an emergency message on her phone telling staffers to get ready for the arrival of several victims of a shooting.
   "I don't know what time it was when that message came through. It just said 'Heads-up, 10 gunshot victims are coming.' I called the local Catholic church and I alerted them that we had gunshot victims coming. I didn't know what it was that had happened," she said.
   Shootings aren't uncommon because of gang activity in the area, said Sr. Dolores, but this time it was different. The victims were among the 20 who were shot during an event for U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Among those victims arriving at the University Medical Center were the congresswoman and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
   "As a chaplain, we follow the patient to the room as they come in. We stand outside the room and listen to the report," said Sr. Dolores. "We were waiting outside of one of the rooms and one of our social workers walked up to me and told me that the patient inside the room in front of us was Gabrielle Giffords. At that point, we still didn't know what had happened. We just have patients and we give them care."
   The emergency area quickly filled.
   "One of the first ones to come in was the little 9-year-old girl. When she came in, they worked on her very, very hard. The others started coming in and the trauma bay was filled with nurses and doctors. Doctors were coming in from all over the city," said Sr. Dolores.
   "Someone then came up to me and told me that the little girl had died. I saw the room closed and the curtains drawn. I'm a very brave chaplain; a Victory Noll Sister. I walked in the room and saw her alone there and I prayed in her ear. I prayed for God's love and for forgiveness. I told her 'I know you're in Heaven. When you get to Heaven, take care of all of us down here.' I found out later she had made her first Communion just a year ago. All at once, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was a nurse. I don't know when she had come into the room. She asked if she could pray with me. So we prayed together — not long, but then I felt at peace, and we left the room."
   Sr. Dolores moved around to see if there was anyone in need of her spiritual comforting.
   "I stayed around and checked the patients as they came in," she said. "There was one man not in the trauma bay, but in the regular area. I went over to him; he had been shot in the foot. He was a really nice man. I didn't pray with him, but I said 'You need to thank God, don't you?' He said 'I sure do.'
   "Later, I got called up to the sixth floor. The parents of the little girl who had died had been called in — she wasn't with her parents at the event, but with a neighbor. They were wanting a priest and the priest had come in. I went in and told the parents that I had prayed over her body right after she had died, and it seemed consoling to them."
   As the day went on, the frantic activity started to calm down, said Sr. Dolores. The lead trauma doctor met with the families of the victims, and the social workers all introduced themselves.
   "I told them that I was the chaplain, and that if they needed anything spiritual to call on me," she said.
Sr. Dolores stayed at her post until her 12-hour work shift ended at 7 p.m. She said she planned on meeting with as many of the victims and families as she could during her next work shift on Tuesday.
   "I'll talk to them and assure them of my prayers," she said.
Sr. Dolores joined Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters in 1949, and has been missioned all across the country in her years as a Victory Noll Sister, including pair of stints as a chaplain at University Medical Center in Tucson. She works two days a week on a 12-hour shift each day. Now in her 80s, she says she hasn't slowed down. That helped her to handle the chaos of Saturday's events.
   "There were so many people. I tried to get the names of all the victims. You kind of lose track of time with all that is going on. I'd never been in a disaster like this before," she said. "God has given me gifts of health and ability to do this. It's a very exciting life. It's hard, but I love it. I'm helping people, and that's what counts."