Sr. Nora Teresa Brick

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SISTER NORA BRICK

BORN: JULY 24, 1929

BORN INTO ETERNAL LIFE: JULY 21, 2026

Plant the good seed of RIGHTEOUSNESS

And you will harvest a crop of LOVE

Nora’s 97th birthday had just passed on July 24, 2026, the day when the seeds of righteousness were first planted in her tiny heart. So much had been written about her that it became difficult to capture all the good she had sown throughout her long life of 97 years.

Sister Nora came from a large family in Castle Island, Co. Kerry. Her parents, Patrick and Ellen Fitzgerald, had five daughters: Anna, Nora, Joan, Maureen and Eileen and four sons: David, Tommie, Daniel and Percy. She was also surrounded by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

County Kerry was her birthplace and she leaves us in Bergen County, New Jersey with a legacy known only to God and to us, her sisters, and especially to the people of Georgia and Florida.

She chose the less- traveled road from Kerry to Co. Westmeath in 1947 and arriving in the US, her goal was educating countless children in Bronx, Brooklyn and Syracuse NY, to Boston, then to Savannah, Georgia, and to Florida in Wauchula, Bradenton, Ruskin, Palmetto.

In Florida, Immigration was her focus, and in 1995 her destiny into Project Light Magnet took root. In Bradenton she opened Stillpoint House of Prayer in 2000, a place for contemplative prayer. Since she was fluent in Spanish, she had two groups (English and Spanish). Besides prayer, Sr. Nora was focused on the poverty of the people, one of her programs where she gave vouchers so the children could go to Pay Less Shoe Store, be fitted and walk away in comfort.

When it got cold in Florida, she organized a blanket giveaway. At Thanksgiving, there were baskets of food. She got bells ringing as a call to prayer, nobody came empty handed to her Franciscan Mission.

Stillpoint House Of Prayer would take pages to write about. With all the immigrants, Sr. Nora worked to teach them English, some American history, and before long they all passed the examination and became US Citizens. For those who needed, she invited Alcoholics Anonymous, now those within her radius could count on the prayers at Stillpoint House of Prayer and look forward to a good living as they have the benefits of Social Security and can live with dignity.

Sr. Nora Brick did so much more than could be written about her. Above all, the seeds of righteousness planted in her tiny heart at Baptism in 1929 have produced a harvest crop of Love.

The following article was published in Today’s SENIORS January 21, 2011:

SISTER NORA: SIXTY YEARS OF

DEVOTION TO THOSE IN NEED

Sister Nora Brick, who stands about five feet, two inches tall, is a towering beacon of human kindness. People familiar with her lifetime of work for the underprivileged describe her as “the Mother Theresa of Bradenton.”

A Franciscan Missionary nun, Sister Nora founded Stillpoint House of Prayer in Bradenton. The non-profit House of Prayer provides food, clothing, and financial assistance to disadvantaged people, as well as leadership in prayer, Spanish rosary and Bible study.

Sister Nora has lived a life of selfless devotion to the underprivileged, the hungry, and those in need of spiritual help. She has personally helped countless people in the ten years since she founded Stillpoint.

SOME FACTS ABOUT SISTER NORA:

• Born in County Kerry Ireland
• Graduated from High School in Tralee, Ireland, in 1947
• Made her final profession of vows associated with her spiritual calling in 1950.
• Has degrees from Boston College and Duquesne University.
• Marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960’s.
• Was a school teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Savannah, Ga.
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was once one of her students.
• She took up the Creole language in Miami to work with Haitian immigrants.
• Starting in 1975, she ministered to migrant workers in Ruskin and Wauchula.
• After arriving in Palmetto in 1979, she taught English to underprivileged immigrants.
• Founded Project Light literacy center in 1995.
• Founded Stillpoint House of Prayer in 2000 to provide the basic necessities of life to the poor of Bradenton.

Sister Nora, we will all miss you. May you rest in the arms of our loving God.

Your Sisters in Tenafly.