Maryknoll Sisters

Maryknoll, NY —  Sister Alice Regina McGinn, MM, educator and pastoral worker in Bolivia, Peru and the United States, died May 27, 2015, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.  She was 93 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 74 years.

Born on January 5, 1922, in Providence, RI, to James B. and Mary Frances Cummings McGinn, Sister Alice entered Maryknoll on July 2, 1940, following graduation from St. Mary’s Academy in Providence.  Even before graduation she had planned to enter Maryknoll. Her brother, Father John McGinn, was already a Maryknoll priest and Alice wanted to join the Sisters community to fulfill a hope “to go to the missions where I, too, felt called to go.”

Upon completing the novitiate, Sister Alice made her First Profession of Vows on March 7, 1943, and immediately after, was assigned to Los Altos, CA, where she worked with the Maryknoll Fathers in the kitchen at the minor seminary in Mountain View. It was there, three years later, that she made her Final Profession, and that same year, 1946, she received her first foreign assignment to Bolivia. “My first desire for mission had been for China, where my brother was,” Sister Alice commented. “South America was a place I had not thought about.”

Sister Alice studied Spanish in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and, a year later, went to the small town of Cobija, Pando, which is on the northernmost frontier with Brazil. There she helped in the parish primary school, learning while doing what seemed to come naturally to her: teaching. In 1954, she went to another frontier town also across from Brazil, Guayaramerin, serving as the principal of the parish primary school there.

Following a period of renewal in the United States in 1956, Sister Alice returned to Bolivia, becoming director of the catechetical program as well as a teacher in the parish primary school in Cochabamba. She returned to the States in 1964, where she continued studies for her bachelor’s degree in education at Maryknoll Teachers College, completing them in 1967.

Sister Alice then returned to South America, this time serving in the highlands of Peru.  In Puno and, later, in Capachica, she used her teaching skills with catechists, as well as her secretarial skills in the organization of much needed cooperatives. These cooperatives were a Christian response to the economic plight of the communities in that area. In Capachica, too, a creative response to small religious community living was experienced, as religious from different communities shared life, faith and ministry under the same roof. 

Sister Alice left Peru at the end of 1970, then sharing her South American experiences of 20 years with relatives and friends in the USA, as well as giving mission talks in parishes and schools in New England as part of the Maryknoll Sisters Mission Education Team.

Always eager for self improvement and learning new skills, Sister Alice studied the fundamentals in bilingualism at Boston State  Teachers College, then studied Latin American literature at Salve Regina College, Newport, RI, where she receive the Sigma Delta Pi Award. She also attended Sawyer School of Business, Providence, RI,  where she earned a career secretary diploma in 1974.

For the next two years, Sister Alice worked with the Maryknoll Fathers Development Team as secretary in their New York City office. In 1978, she attended Southeastern Massachusetts University where she earned credits in bilingualism-analysis of teaching foreign languages.

From 1979 until 1984 she taught in the Providence, RI, school system, then was involved in catechetics, as a Eucharistic minister and lector at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Providence from 1984 to 1994.  She then volunteered in various pastoral work in local parishes in Providence until 2008, when she retired. She returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2013, where she lived until her death.

Sister Alice was the youngest and last of her siblings. She was predeceased by her brothers, Rev John A. McGinn, MM; Vincent P. McGinn; James D. McGinn; Edwin C. McGinn; Robert F. McGinn, and Joseph A. McGinn; and her sister, Mary C. McGinn O’Connor.  She will be deeply missed by her nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews, who continue to reside in Rhode Island.

A vespers service will be held for Sister Alice on Tuesday, June  2, 2015,  at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, NY.  A Mass of Christian Burial will follow on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, at 11 a.m. in the same location. Interment will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.

Sister Theresa Maksym,
Educator/Administrator in Guatemala and Mexico
Dies at 87

Maryknoll, NY —  Sister Theresa Marie Maksym, MM, missioner-educator in Panama, Guatemala and Mexico, died May 6, 2015, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.  She was 87 years old.

Born in Jamaica, NY, on January 7, 1928, to Konstanty and Janina Lazowska Maksym, Sister Theresa entered Maryknoll on October 5, 1946 at its motherhouse in Ossining, NY, from St. Joseph’s Parish, Jamaica, NY.  She received the religious name Sister M. Francis Christine, made her First Profession of Vows) on April 6, 1949, at the motherhouse, and her Final Vows on April 6, 1952, in Panama.

A 1945 graduate of Jamaica High School, Jamaica, NY, Sister Theresa also held a bachelor’s degree in education from Maryknoll Teachers College, earned in 1958, and attended Maryknoll Seminary in Spring 1976.

Sister Theresa’s first assignment was to Balboa, Panama, where she taught kindergarten, did catechetical work and home visitation, and ministered to youth from 1949-1953.  She then taught third graders in Ancon, where she was also involved again in catechetical work, home visitation and ministry to youth, from 1953-1957.

Sister Theresa was then sent to Guatemala, where she served as principal and teacher of Grades 2 through 6 at San Miguel Acatan, Huehuetenango from 1959-1965.  She also worked with women, did home visitation and catechetical work, as well as census work during that period.

Sister Theresa then was assigned to Mexico, where she would serve for the next 42 years.  From 1965-1974, she  served as principal and  taught sociology and religion to girls in the Commercial Department at Helena Herlihy Hall in Mexico City. Then, in 1974, she was put in charge of selling the property and phasing over the school to the administration of lay professionals.

In 1976, Sister Theresa was sent to the Yucatan, where she would serve for the next 31 years.  There she was an English teacher and engaged in pastoral ministry at Colonia Hidalgo de Chuburna, Merida.  She trained Mayan girls as catechists, coordinated catechetical programs, formed a pastoral team, started a computer school, developed support groups, offered leadership training classes, and encouraged the use of the Mayan language.

Sister Theresa is survived by a sister, Helen Golonka of Kew Garden Hills, NY, a brother, Carl Maksym of Yonkers, NY, and a niece.

A vespers service will be held for Sister Theresa on Thursday, May 14, 2015,  at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, NY.  A Mass of Christian Burial will follow on Friday, May 15, 2015, at 11 a.m. in the same location. Interment will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.

God lit a uniqueness,
Gave it a name – mine,
To stand firm as palm
In the midst of His glory
Expressions, no two alike,
To be to Him a blade of grass,
Steadfastly communicating
From root to color and grace,
Comforting presence to His earth

Sister Reina Paz Kakilala has been a Maryknoll Sister for 55 years.  Those years echo through the many verses of poetry she has written about her life experiences, that are neatly tucked away here in her personal file at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.

But beyond that poetry, a fire continues to burn, one which initially brought her to Maryknoll from her home in the Philippines in 1950, then cast her not only back to her home country where she taught second and third graders at Maryknoll College in Manila from 1955-1962, served as superintendent of a grade school in Jimenez, then saw her become assistant principal of a grade school, again in Manila, but also to British Columbia and Alberta Canada, and the western United States.

It was, possibly, in the American west where Sister Reina Paz’s fire for social justice gleamed most brightly.  There she worked as an organizer for a community project aiding retired farm workers in California from 1971-1973, taught self-reliance through pigeon farming to Vietnamese refugees, also in California, in the late 1970s into 1980, and boldly speaking out for rural women, again in California, who were struggling. Back then, brandishing her verbal sword, she told news reporters of the difficulties many women trying to survive in backwoods sections of California, of the difficulty obtaining adequate health care, of the struggle to find consistent funding for agricultural research that played such an important role in meeting human food needs, of the need to increase educational opportunities for women of all ages.

Today, Sister Reina Paz’s life has become a bit quieter, yet her desire to see justice and fairness for the poor has not vanished. Sometimes it shows in an e-mail she circulates throughout the house, urging all within her electronic reach to speak out on important issues of the days.  Other times, she stops by our Communications office to share some interesting word about some important topic or another. “Might we post this to the Communications bulletin board?” she’ll ask meekly. We always agree.

Sister Mary Clare Henry,
Missioner to the Philippines for over 50 Years
Dies at 87

Maryknoll, NY —  Sister Mary Clare Henry, MM, missioner to the Philippines for 54 years, died May 1, 2015, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.  She was 87 years old.

Born in Weehawken, NJ,  on September 5, 1927, to William G. and Anna Marie Weiss Henry, Sister Mary Clare entered Maryknoll at its motherhouse in Ossining, NY, in 1950 from St. Augustine’s Parish, Union City, NJ, and made her final vows on March 7, 1959, in Manila, Philippines. A 1945 graduate of St. Michael’s High School, Union City, Sister Mary Clare also held a B.A. in social science, with a minor in education from Notre Dame College, Staten Island, NY.   She also studied at Newark Teachers College in 1949 and Maryknoll Seminary in 1979.

Sister Mary Clare began her service in the Philippines with a year’s language study in Manila.  She then taught English and religion in Lipa from 1954-1956, in Pakil (where she also served as regional assistant superior in 1960 and superior in 1962) from 1956-1965, in Lucena from 1965-1968, and Cateel from 1968-1971.   She then taught religion and served as a supervisor for San Francisco del Monte  High School, a public high school in Malabon from 1971-1972, followed by nearly eight months in congregational service, assisting in housekeeping and with light repairs at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining.

Sister Mary Clare returned to the Philippines in 1976, working as a CCD coordinator in Malabon until 1979, then in Quezon City until 1983.  She then did pastoral work at San Isidreo Parish in Nuro, Upi, Mazuindanao, from 1985-1989.

From 1989-1993,  Sister Mary Clare worked again at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, this time serving as administrator and business coordinator for Maryknoll Mission Institute, as well as speaking about the work of Maryknoll Sisters at local parishes in 1992.

Following a period of ministry to her family, Sister Mary Clare returned once more to the Philippines, where she did pastoral work, volunteered with the National Vocational Rehabilitation Center’s literacy program, provided hospitality to those visiting the regional house, and tutored from 1998-2004.  She then taught English to several Sisters from Asia from 2004-2010.  She retired in 2011, residing at the Maryknoll Sisters Center until her death.

A vespers service will be held for Sister Mary Clare on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, NY.  A Mass of Christian Burial will follow on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 at 11 a.m. in the same location. Interment will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.