Sister Mary Yoani, Mission Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit is a leader of her order’s efforts to help people with HIV in East Timor, an island country in the southernmost end of the Indonesian archipelago. Jennifer Hardy/CRS

Sister Mary Yoani has her mother Agatha to thank for her vocation in the Catholic Church.  As a widow raising her only child, Agatha’s greatest joys are her Catholic faith and her daughter Yoani.  And thanks to Agatha’s courage and support, her daughter was ordained a Mission Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit.  Today Sister Yoani is a woman of great courage herself working to care for and support people living with HIV in East Timor.

Listen to her story by clicking on the media player below.