Cheverus Award recipient Bernice Higdon of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Acton is pictured in the St. Elizabeth Parish Center on Oct. 15. Pilot photo/Wes Cipolla
ACTON -- Bernice Higdon was shocked to discover that she was a Cheverus Award winner.
Higdon was one of 151 people to receive the archdiocesan award in 2023. She received it for her decades of service to St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Acton, which has been her parish for 45 years.
"It's a very humbling experience, and I am just touched," Higdon told The Pilot on Oct. 15, "and I realize how much God loves me. So again, I couldn't say no, and I'm just honored. I'm really honored and blessed to be Catholic."
Father Jeff Archer, pastor of St. Elizabeth's, nominatead Higdon for the Cheverus Award.
"She is always reaching out to members of our community and beyond," Father Archer told The Pilot on Oct. 11. "Just as Jesus reached out to everyone, Bernice certainly follows in his footsteps. She remains friendly and engaging to everyone. She is much loved by the staff and parishioners."
When she found out she had won, Higdon told Father Archer that she didn't feel she deserved the award, because of the people in the parish who do far more than her. It wasn't the first time she felt unworthy of something she was called to. Decades ago, her pastor asked her to be a eucharistic minister. She spent a week thinking it over before she said yes.
"You never feel worthy," she said. "I had a problem just walking on the altar. And then, through a lot of prayer, I came to the conclusion that God is asking something of me, and I didn't want to say no to him, and that's how it came about."
She gave Communion to her husband Richard as he was dying of cancer in 2001.
"We accepted our vows through the Sacrament of Matrimony, and through the Eucharist, I brought Christ to him on his deathbed," she said. "That was the biggest impression. There were many, but that was the biggest for me. The connection between the Sacrament of Matrimony and the gifts we are given from Christ. To bring that gift to him, it meant the world."
Higdon was born and raised in Somerville with her three brothers and two sisters. Her father was raised Protestant but became Catholic after meeting her mother, who came from a devout Italian family.
"My mother was the leading example in our family of Catholicism, although my dad was very much into the Catholic Church," she said.
She grew up attending public and Catholic schools. The family's life revolved around the holy days. Every May, they would set up a Marian shrine in the dining room.
"It influenced me throughout my whole life, being Catholic, as I grew," she said. "And I just always felt Catholicism was my home."
She moved to Acton to be with Richard, who, like her father, was raised Protestant but became Catholic after Higdon introduced him to the faith. He was a lector and active at St. Elizabeth's before his death. His was the first vigil held inside the church.
"He said, 'I want to receive the Eucharist,'" Higdon remembered. "And so he went through RCIA."
Higdon has spent her entire adult life volunteering in Catholic churches, especially in religious education. She was further drawn to religious education by her sons, Brian and Peter, who were raised in St. Elizabeth's. When Higdon retired in 2019, she had spent 22 years as a special education assistant at R.J. Grey Junior High School in Acton.
"Working with handicapped or special-needs children, you see the face of God in each person," she said, "and we're all in it together."
The job was often difficult, and she relied on her faith to get through it.
"In a public school, you don't bring religion in or talk about religion, but you learn from other people," she said. "The biggest thing was to always remember that whoever I looked at, whatever child, they had the face of God."
Higdon spent two years assisting a student who required an oxygen tank at all times. His death devastated her.
"That was a big deal for me," she said.
Currently, Higdon manages the ALPHA ministry gatherings at St. Elizabeth's.
"She has devoted the last three years as the lead volunteer helping upwards of 100 people to reconnect with their Catholic-Christian roots through this program," Father Archer said. "She has a great passion for reaching out to those who desire to reconnect."
ALPHA meetings happen two or three times each year. Higdon is responsible for organizing the volunteers who hand out invitations, getting the word out about ALPHA during Mass and through email campaigns, and processing registrations. She has to arrange the food that is served, and oversee the volunteers who set up before the meetings and clean up after them. She also has to make sure there is someone to supervise the audiovisual elements that ALPHA requires, such as videos and witness talks.
"There's a lot of components," she said.
The hard work is worth it because she gets to see a "transformation" in people who are questioning their faith, have left the church, or are curious about becoming Catholic.
"We have had several ALPHA guests go through RCIA after that, because the videos and the talks are just so beautiful," she said. "ALPHA touches on the Holy Spirit."
She is also active in the parish's LIFT (Living in Faith Together) ministry, which is currently studying the book "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen.
"Yesterday was our first meeting, and it was awesome," she said. "It sold right out."
As a volunteer with the parish Social Justice Committee, she organizes furniture and clothing drives to help refugees resettling in Lowell. The committee recently accomplished its goal of sending 1,000 pairs of shoes to refugees.
"We have to remember that Jesus reached out to everyone, particularly sinners, as we know," she said. "And I'm one of them. I'm one of the sinners."