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Gallup, New Mexico – A funeral Mass, attended by an overflow congregation at Sacred Heart Cathedral Nov. 7, celebrated the life of Sister Marguerite Bartz, a champion for justice.

Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament, was found dead in her residence at St. Berard Mission Church after she didn’t show up to Mass Nov. 1 in the small community of Navajo on the New Mexico-Arizona border. A teen has been charged with the murder.

According to the Diocese of Gallup, Sister Marguerite was “known to be a woman always passionate for justice and peace – and the life she lived would tell us that she would respond to this incident with a spirit of forgiveness towards whoever is responsible for these acts.”

Bishop James S. Wall was the principal celebrant for the funeral. The Cathedral was packed with people standing in the aisles, in the vestibule an even outside.

Bishop Wall said, Sister Marguerite “was a woman of great faith committed to following Jesus Christ, which was expressed throughout her four decades of community life as a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament.”

Prior to the funeral, the people of Navajo gathered in the church and at St. Michael Indian School for the rosary.

Sister Marguerite had served at the mission in Navajo, New Mexico since 1999.She became known to the community as a teacher, companion, spiritual advisor and advocate.

Sister Marguerite gave religious instruction to both children and adults.

At the funeral hundreds of Native peoples who had learned about the Catholic Faith from Sister Marguerite approached the Eucharistic table.

She also served communities in Sawmill, Arizona, and also at St. Michael Indian School located in St. Michael’s, Arizona where she was a member of its board of directors.

Sister Marguerite worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the lack of employment on the Navajo Reservation and also the lack of decent transportation and programs to assist the people with alcohol and other addictions.

Sister Patricia Suchalski, president of the 118-year-old Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, said Sister Marguerite was a woman of deep faith, which gave her focus and energy.

Sister Patricia said she trained to be a sister with Sister Marguerite, who chose to work with oppressed black and Native American people.

“She was a woman from the very beginning who was very zealous. Big smile and had a great, great love of God,” Sister Patricia said. “Her love of God was proven in action.”

Born in Plymouth, Wisconsin, July 31, 1945, Sister Marguerite entered the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1966. She also served in Massachusetts, Louisiana.

Sister Marguerite moved into the small, double-wide trailer next to the church in St. Berard Parish. It was her last home for the final 10 years of her life.

At the end of the funeral family members went back to the cemetery to see the grave one more time. While there, a young woman, who was the girlfriend of the young man accused of the murder, was there and went to each member of the family expressing her deepest sorrow for what he had done. According to Sister Marguerite’s family they stayed together for an hour, each consoling the other.

Father Paysse and the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions expresses sympathy to Sister Marguerite’s family and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.