Ossining, NY — “Trailblazers in Habits”, a 90-minute film documenting the pioneer work of Maryknoll Sisters, the first U.S.-based congregation of Catholic women religious dedicated to foreign mission, will be shown Friday, March 27, 2015, at 7 p.m. in the Asia Room at Maryknoll Society Mission Center, 55 Ryder Road, Ossining, NY. Sisters featured in the film will be on hand to greet attenders and will answer questions following the showing. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.
“Trailblazers in Habits” tells the story, in the Sisters’ own words, of the congregation’s work in education, healthcare, and the cause of social justice. A moving and absorbing chronicle that spans 100 years and several continents, the film celebrates the intelligence and tenacity, the love, compassion and generosity of these early feminists.
Production of the film was almost entirely funded by donations from the thousands who attended Maryknoll schools around the world. Maryknollers wanted a way to tell the full story of the Sisters’ contributions to their communities, from the building of schools and hospitals around the world to helping lay the foundation of Hong Kong’s social welfare system.
By turns tragic and joyous, yet always inspirational, this insightful documentary by award-winning director Nancy Tong, is a revealing portrait of these courageous women and a timely testimony to the Sisters’ lifelong dedication to helping the disenfranchised.
For more information, please contact Sue Palmer, Communications Manager, at 914-941-7575, ext. 5687 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Maryknoll, NY — “Increasing inequality, pervasive violence, divisive politics…what has all of our work for social justice meant?” wonders Sister Nancy Sylvester, IHM, founder of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, Detroit, MI.
The instructor for Maryknoll Mission Institute’s upcoming five-day program, “Upstart Spring: Imagine Justice… Exploration into God,” to be held May 10-15, at Maryknoll Sisters Center, 10 Pinesbridge Road, Ossining, NY, Sister Nancy, will help participants to explore this question by challenging them to “deepen (their) contemplative practice communally and imagine new ways of being with each other, with all beings on Earth and with the Divine.” The group will also explore what it means to exercise contemplative power and imagine doing justice in new ways.
Past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Sister Nancy serves as president of the Institute and executive director of its major project, Engaging Impasse: Circlues of Contemplation and Dialogue® and its various programs, including Transformation in a Time of Uncertainty. She has served as an advisor on the United States Bishops’ International Policy Committee and a member of the board of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, where she was a founding member. Nancy holds a master’s degree in human development, with a concentration in economics and theology, from St. Mary’s University, Winona, MN, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from St. Louis University.
The cost for the five-day program is $200, plus a one-time $50 registration fee. For more information or to register, call 914-941-7575, ext. 5671, or visit us online at www.maryknollsisters.org/mmi.
We are all very aware of the violence and suffering being experienced in Iraq at this time. Many have had to flee but many remain in their communities experiencing anxiety and fear as violence erupts all around them. In solidarity with the Iraqi people and with the minority Christian Community, the leader of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Sienna in Mosul, Iraq has called her sisters throughout Iraq to a time of intense prayer for peace and the protection of people of all faiths in Iraq.
We, along with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), call our sisters around the world to join the Iraqi Sisters in a time of prayer on Thursday, June 19 at 6 p.m. (in your time zone) to pray for an end to the violence and for the protection of all faith groups in Iraq. We encourage you to participate in this act of contemplative solidarity in the privacy of your heart, in your local community or chapel. Let us pray that there may be peace in Iraq and peace in the hearts of all peoples.
In the spirit of solidarity and gratitude,
The Congregational Leadership Team of the Maryknoll Sisters
Maryknoll, NY – Maryknoll Sisters will formally install its new leadership team at a Mass to be held Sunday, January 4, 2015, at 10:30 a.m. in the Main Chapel at Maryknoll Sisters Center, 10 Pinesbridge Road, Ossining, NY.
The new members of the Congregational Leadership Team, who will serve on the team from 2015-2021, include:
Sister Antoinette Gutzler, President. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Sister Antoinette is a 2001 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with a Ph.D. in systematic theology. She has taught in both Tanzania and Taiwan during her 50 years with Maryknoll. Her recent publications include: “Internalization and Globalization of Women’s Homelessness: A Taiwan Perspective” (2010) and “Navigating the Tradition: A Christian Feminist Perspective on the Power of Creedal Language to Shape the Lives of Women” (2008). She is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), The American Academy of Religion (AAR), consultant to the Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA), and a Standing Committee member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Association of Major Religious Superior in Taiwan.
Sister Numeriana Mojado, Vice-President. Born in the Philipppines, Sister Numeriana is a 1998 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with an M.S. in Religious Studies and an R.N. from Far Eastern University, Manila. During her nearly 40 years with Maryknoll Sisters she has ministered among the urban poor in Korea, served on the Board of Magdalena House, a residence for women escaping prostitution, and on the Advisory Committee for Wellspring of Peace, a counseling center for sexual abuse.
Sister Anastasia Lott, Member. Born in Landstuhl, Germany, while her father was stationed there with the U.S. Air Force, Sister Anastasia is a 1997 graduate of the Maryknoll Institute for African Studies, Nairobi, East Africa, with an M.A. in African Studies, and has served in Venezuela, Tanzania and Namibia. For the past 11 years, she has been in management in the congregation’s Development Department, serving first as director of planned giving from 2003-2010, then as Director of Development from 2010-2014.
Sister Teruko Ito, Member. Sister Teruko, a native of Japan, is a 1995 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with an M.A. in Religion and Religious Education. She has served in Tanzania, where she taught high school mathematics, and Japan, where she did social work for alcoholism-related programs from 1978-1988. She was also involved in the Ministry of the Promotion of Women for the Diocese of San Marcos from 1995-2004.
Founded in 1912, Maryknoll Sisters is the first US-based congregation of women religious dedicated to world mission. Working primarily among the poor and marginalized in 22 countries around the world, they now number 454 members.
Caption: New Maryknoll Sisters Leadership Team. Left to right, Sisters Teruko Ito, Anastasia Lott, Antoinette Gutzler, President, and Numeriana Mojado, Vice President. Photo Credit: Sister Shirley King, MM.
Maryknoll, NY — Sister Helen Louise Gleason, MM, an educator in Hawaii for over 30 years, as well as the Marshall Islands and Papua, New Guinea, died September 11, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 85 years old.
Born on January 20, 1929, in Cloquet, MN, to William and Exilia Demers Gleason, she was one of eleven children born to the couple.
A graduate of Cloquet High School, Cloquet, MN, Helen, who is a descendant on her mother’s side of Jean Nicolet, an explorer of Lake Michigan, and Louis Joliet, explorer of the Mississippi River, entered Maryknoll Sisters at their residence in Valley Park, MO, on October 14, 1948. She received her religious name, Sister M. Evelyn John, at reception.
After making First Vows in Valley Park on May 8, 1951, Sister Helen worked in the Multigraph Department at the congregation’s Motherhouse, making her Final Vows on May 8, 1954, at the Motherhouse.
From 1954-1956, she studied at Maryknoll Teachers College, Maryknoll, NY, receiving a bachelor’s degree in education in 1956. She was then assigned to Hawaii, where she taught third grade students in Kalihi, Oahu, from 1956-1962, first graders in Wailuku, Maui, from 1962-1971, and the primary grades at St. John’s School, Honolulu, from 1971-1975. While teaching at St. John’s, Sister Helen also served as CCD coordinator for St. Philomena’s Parish, also in Honolulu.
Sister Helen was then sent to Majuro in the Marshall Islands, where she was principal of a grammar school, from 1975-1980. She then returned to Hawaii, where she taught the primary grades at Maryknoll Grade School, Punahou, from 1980-1983.
After a brief period serving as principal and kindergarten teacher for St. Rose School, Proctor, MN, from 1983-1984, Sister Helen once more returned to Hawaii, where she was a kindergarten teacher at St. Ann’s School, Kaneohe, from 1984-1991.
Sister Helen was then sent to Papua, New Guinea, where she taught primary school children from 1991-1996. She then served as sacristan for the Motherhouse, Maryknoll, NY, from 1996 until being sent to work on a Native American reservation in Red Lake, MN in May 1999. Sister Helen worked as a teacher and librarian on that reservation through May 2000 when she was sent to a reservation in her home town, Cloquet.
Sister Helen stayed in Cloquet until 2007, serving in a variety of capacities, including sacristan for Holy Family Parish, religious education teacher at Holy Family and Sts. Mary and Joseph Missions, member of Kateri Circle and Tekakwitha Conference, moderator for Cloquet Deanery of the Diocese of Duluth Catholic Women, “reading buddy” for students at Little Black Bear Ojibwe School on the Fond du Lac Reservation, and an area vocation promotion representative for her congregation. Sister Helen also assisted as a reader and Eucharistic minister at local Masses, and visited the sick in nursing care facilities, hospitals, and the homes of local shut-ins.
Sister Helen then settled at the congregation’s residence in Monrovia, CA, where she served as a driver and answered phones from 2007-2010. She returned to Cloquet, working as a school volunteer and resuming involvement with the Kateri Circle and Tekakwitha Conference, in 2010, finally returning to the Motherhouse, where she has lived since 2012.
A Vesper service will be held for Sister Helen on Monday, September 22, 2014, at 4:15 p.m., at the Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, at 11 a.m. at the same location. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Maryknoll Sisters Center grounds.
Maryknoll, NY — Sister Margaret Frances Kulage, MM, the eldest Maryknoll Sister, who served primarily in Hawaii and the Philippines, died August 28, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care IV, Maryknoll, NY. She was 107 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 85 years.
Born on June 24, 1907, in St. Louis, MO, to Henry J. and Cunigunda Kuenz Kulage, she was one of nine children born to the couple.
A graduate of Holy Cross Parochial School, St. Louis, Margaret attended Speedwa Business School, St. Louis, from 1920-1921, working for Shell Oil Company for eight years until she entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation at their motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from Holy Cross Church, St. Louis, on April 5, 1929. At reception, she received the religious name Sister M. Irma Francis.
After making First Vows at Maryknoll on June 24, 1931, Sister Marge, as her friends called her, studied at The Venard, a Maryknoll junior seminary in Clarks Summit, PA, from which she graduated in 1936. She made Final Vows at Maryknoll on June 24, 1934, and worked at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in various capacities until receiving her first mission assignment, to Hawaii, in 1943.
A courageous and sensitive young woman, impassioned by a quest for peace and justice for the poor, Sister Marge devoted herself to catechetics, pastoral work and teaching in Hawaii for approximately 20 years. She served on Oahu, in Waialua from 1943-1945, and Kalihi Kai from 1945-1953. Returning to the Motherhouse, she completed her college work earning a Bachelor of Education degree at Maryknoll Teachers College while also serving as Assistant Superior at the Motherhouse. From 1959 to 1962, she served as Superior at St. Theresa’s Convent, the residence for the Maryknoll Sisters working in the Maryknoll Fathers’ offices. Returning to Hawaii in 1962 she served as superior in Kalihi Kai and then was assigned to Wailuku on the island of Maui from 1965-1966.
Following two years in administration at the Motherhouse from 1967-1969, Sister Marge was sent to the Philippines, where she taught at Maryknoll College, Manila, from 1969-1970, then served as principal of La Salette Elementary School, Santiago City, Isabella, from 1970-1972.
From 1972 to 1978, she was the secretary to the Maryknoll Fathers’ Regional superior and coordinator for the Maryknoll Sisters in Davao, Philippines. That same year, she and 11 other Maryknoll Sisters survived an ordeal at sea, when they survived 16 hours in shark-infested waters off the east coast of Mindanao after their boat capsized. In an account written several months later, Sister Marge recalled the incident: “At 5:15 or a little later, I looked at my watch and said to Joanie (another of the Sisters), ‘Do you realize that you and I have been travelling almost 12.5 hours already?’ A few minutes later, I found myself coming up for air…. Instinctively, I must have grabbed hold of the boat as I came up…. Once we were all in position, we again marveled and thanked God that no one had been hurt. This was good, not only for the obvious reason but also because blood in the water would attract sharks. Every one of us knew the area was shark infested, but no one mentioned the fact until we were safe ashore. We hoisted (Sister) Patricia Marie’s white veil on a spar and prayed that it would be sighted.”
She then undertook a Prayer ministry, and became interested in the charismatic prayer movement. From 1979 to 1990, she worked visiting various prisons in the Philippines. The photo above shows her with one of the prisoners to whom she ministered.
Officially retiring to the United States in 1991, Sister Marge lived at the Maryknoll Sisters residence in Monrovia, CA, until her return to the Motherhouse in 1995 where she resided until her death.
A Vesper service will be held for Sister Margaret on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, at 4:15 p.m., at the Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday, September 3, 2014, at 11 a.m. at the same location. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Maryknoll Sisters Center grounds.
Sister Marie Patrice Kehoe, MM, who served primarily as a teacher, then a nurse, in Hawaii for nearly 50 years, died August 9, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care III, Maryknoll, NY. She was 91 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 72 years.
Born on May 10, 1923, in New Rochelle, NY, to Raymond F. and Mary Wilde Kehoe, and christened Patricia Marie, she was one of six children born to the couple. As a child, she attended Holy Family Parish, New Rochelle, with her family, graduating from Cathedral High School, New York, NY, in 1940.
Patricia Marie entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation at their motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from St. Anthanasius Parish, Evanston, IL, on December 8, 1941, and received the religious name of Marie Patrice, which she retained for the whole of life as a Maryknoll Sister. She made her First Vows on June 30, 1944, and Final Vows on June 30, 1947, both at the congregation’s motherhouse.
Following completion of teacher training at Maryknoll College, Maryknoll, NY in 1947, Sister Marie Patrice taught for a year in Boston’s Chinatown before being sent to Hawaii, where she taught math and religion at Maryknoll High School in the Punahou district of Honolulu from 1948-1970.
She then returned to the mainland United States, where she took courses in theology at Manhattan College, New York City, then enrolled at Pace University in 1971, where she earned an R.N. in 1973.
Sister Marie Patrice then returned to Hawaii where she worked at St. Francis Hospital, Honolulu, from 1974-1976, followed by six years serving as a nurse-teacher on Majuro in the Marshall Islands from 1976-1982.
Returning once again to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, , Sister Marie Patrice worked as a nurse in the Maryknoll Sisters Nursing Home, from 1982-1985. She was then sent back to Hawaii, where she worked as a nurse for Maryknoll High School, in Honolulu, as well as wherever else her services were needed in the region, from 1985-2007. She had lived at the motherhouse since 2007, volunteering in various capacities, particularly with ill and elderly Sisters from 2007-2009.
Sister Marie Patrice, who donated her body to science, is survived by a brother, Michael A. Kehoe of Springfield Center, NY, and a sister, Mrs. Ann Marie Chapman of Washington, DC.
Sister Joan Michel Kirsch, the last surviving pioneer Maryknoll Sisters missionary to the continent of Africa, died July 28, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care III, Maryknoll, NY. She was 94 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 71 years.
Born on October 20, 1919, in Wheeling, WV, to Charles and Anna Kress Kirsch, and christened Virginia Dorothy Kirsch, Sister Joan was one of three girls born to the couple. She entered Maryknoll at their motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from St. Alphonsus Parish, Wheeling, on September 7, 1943, and received her religious name, which she retained for the whole of her life as a Maryknoll Sister. She made her First Vows on March 7, 1946, at Maryknoll, New York, and her Final Vows on March 7, 1949, in Africa.
Sister Joan was assigned to Tanzania, East Africa (then known as Tanganyika) in 1948, primarily doing catechetical and pastoral work in Kowak, from 1949-1957. She opened the first house in Shinyanga diocese in Buhangija, where she was local superior, while doing pastoral and catechetical work from 1957-1962, then in Sayusayu from 1962-1969.
Sister Joan was next assigned to the Pastoral Institute in Gaba, Uganda, where she was in charge of the Secretariat office and private secretary to the director of the Institute from 1969-1974.
Returning to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY, in 1974, Sister Joan served as assistant secretary to the Center Unit Board, then as a member of the Center’s general secretarial pool, serving various departments, in 1975. She then worked as a secretary in the Center’s Personnel Department from 1975-1991 and for the Center Council from 1992-1994, when she retired.
Predeceased by her parents and sisters, Sister Joan is survived by three nephews, Steven, John and Henry Roth, all of Wheeling.
A Vesper service was to be held for Sister Joan on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 4:15 p.m., at the Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Friday, August 1, 2014, at 11 a.m. at the same location. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at Maryknoll, NY. Dorsey Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Maryknoll, NY Sister Agnes Christine Welscher, a native of Brooklyn, NY, and educator in China and the United States, died April 12, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care IV, Maryknoll, NY. She was 79 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 61 years.
Agnes Marion Welscher, born on July 16, 1934, in Brooklyn to Joseph and Margaret Naeder Welscher, entered Maryknoll at the Venard, Scranton, PA, from Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Brooklyn, on September 2, 1952. She received the religious name, Sister Agnes Christine, at her Reception in March 1953, made her First Vows on September 8, 1955 at the Maryknoll Motherhouse and her Final Vows on the same day in 1961, in Chicago, IL.
A 1975 graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, with an MA in education, Sister Agnes Christine also earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Maryknoll Teachers College, Maryknoll, NY, in 1960 and a certificate from the East Asian Pastoral Institute, Quezon City, Philippines, in 1970. She was also a 1952 graduate of Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School, Brooklyn, NY.
Sister Agnes Christine’s first assignment was teaching first-grade students at St. Therese School in Chicago’s Chinatown from 1960-1965. She was then sent to China, where she served as assistant principal of Maryknoll Convent School, Primary Section in Kowloontong from 1965-1967 and principal of a primary school in Chai Wan, from 1967-1970.
Sister Agnes Christine then returned to the United States, where she worked in the Promotion office at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY, speaking about the work of the congregation to parishes and schools. She was then called back to St. Therese’s School in Chicago’s Chinatown where she again taught first grade from 1972-1975.
After another brief period working in the congregation’s Promotion Office, Sister Agnes Christine was named religious education coordinator for St. Columban’s Parish, Peekskill, NY, a position she held from 1977-1984, when she was appointed to the same position, this time at St. Patrick’s Parish, Armonk, NY, from 1984-1990. She continued working in religious education in the Eastern U.S. Region from 1990-1993.
In 1994, Sister Agnes Christine returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, where she worked in supportive services from 1994-1995 and in outreach ministry, serving at local parishes and as a driver from 1995-2000, when she retired, dedicating herself to prayer for the congregation and its various works until her death.
Sister Agnes is survived by her sister, Rose Connelly of Forest Hills, NY.
A Vesper service will be held for Sister Agnes on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at 4:15 p.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 2014. Both will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at Maryknoll, NY. Dorsey Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Maryknoll, NY Sister Agnes Cazale, a native of New Orleans, LA, and Maryknoll missioner and catechist in China for over 50 years, died April 8, 2014, at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care IV, Maryknoll, NY. She was 91 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 70 years.
Born on January 30, 1923, in New Orleans to Philip P. and Henrietta Lassus Cazale, Sister Agnes was one of six girls and one boy born to the couple. She entered Maryknoll at its motherhouse in Maryknoll, NY, from St. Matthew’s Parish, Riverridge, LA, on September 7, 1943, and received the religious name, Sister Maria Petra, at her reception into the community. She made her First Vows on March 7, 1946 at Maryknoll, New York, and her Final Vows on March 7, 1949, in Wuchow, Kwangsi, South China.
She graduated from Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, in 1982 with an MS in Pastoral Counseling and a certificate in spiritual direction from its Center of Spirituality and Justice. Sister Agnes also earned a B.A. in Community Service from Mary Rogers College, Maryknoll, NY, in 1971. Prior to entering Maryknoll, she also attended LaSalle Extension School, Chicago, from 1941-1942 and Allen School of Commerce, New Orleans, LA, from 1939-1940. She graduated from Dominican High School, New Orleans, in 1939.
Following a year of service in Maryknoll Seminary kitchen and Maryknoll Sisters Center laundry, Sister Agnes received her appointment to China in 1947. She studied Chinese language and culture in Wuchow City for a year, then began her work in catechetics in Wuchow, Sz Wong, and Loting where she served until 1951.
Following a period of house arrest endured after Mao Tse Tung came to power, Sister Agnes and other Maryknollers were sent to Hong Kong, where she then continued her work in catechetics, serving in Kowloon in the Tung Tau Refugee Area, from 1951-1958. She then served in Toufen, Taipei, Taiwan, from 1958-1961; Kowloon Tsai Refugee Area, from 1963-1968; and Chai Waan Refugee Area, Hong Kong, from 1971-1973.
Sister Agnes then became director of the women’s section at Adam Schall Hostel, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, from 1972-1977, during which time she also served as administrator of her region. In 1977, Sister Agnes returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, where she worked in the Development Department until 1982, while studying for her master’s at Iona College.
She returned to China in 1982, where she was involved in spiritual direction and counseling with the nursing students at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital and the students at Maryknoll Convent School until 1991, and in regional administration from 1991-1997. She was the regional archivist from 1991-2000, and served on both the Board of Governors and the Hospital Authority Governing Committee for Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital from 2001-2005.
Sister Agnes is survived by two sisters, Sister Ursula Cazale, DC, in St. Louis, MO, and Rita Lechnar of Uniontown, PA.
A Vesper service will be held for Sister Agnes on Monday, April 14 at 4:15 p.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. on April 15. Both will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. Burial will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at Maryknoll, NY. Dorsey Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Ossining, NY — “Trailblazers in Habits”, a 90-minute film documenting the pioneer work of Maryknoll Sisters, the first U.S.-based congregation of Catholic women religious dedicated to foreign mission, will be shown Friday, March 27, 2015, at 7 p.m. in the Asia Room at Maryknoll Society Mission Center, 55 Ryder Road, Ossining, NY. Sisters featured in the film will be on hand to greet attenders and will answer questions following the showing. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.
