Born in Worcester, MA, on November 7, 1934. She graduated from Attleboro High School in 1952 and Trinity College, Washington, DC, in 1956 with a B.A. in history, specializing in government.
Sister Honora entered the Maryknoll Congregation from St. John the Evangelist Parish, Attleboro, MA, on September 2, 1956 and was given the religious name Sister Christiana Maria. She made her First Profession of Vows on June 24, 1959 at Maryknoll, NY, and her Final Vows on June 24, 1965, in Panama.
Sister Honora began her work with Maryknoll in 1959, serving in the Publicity Department at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, during which she appeared on the Archdiocese of New York’s children’s program, “Let’s Talk About God,” on WNBC-TV.
In September 1960, she embarked on her first foreign mission to Central America. Her first stop was Guatemala, where she spent five months studying Spanish. She then arrived in Mexico, where she taught English and religion for the next two years, at both the elementary and high school levels.
In 1963, Sister Honora traveled to Panama, where she continued her teaching, expanding into classes on history, geography, math, art, and religious education. During the next four years, she worked steadily and with great love, even in the face of the Canal Zone riots.
Sister Honora returned to Guatemala in 1967, remaining there until 1981, forming Christian leaders, doing parish field work, teaching at Monte Maria School, and training fellow instructors – all despite the guerrilla warfare raging since two months after her arrival.
After ten years in the U.S., during which time she took care of her ailing mother and offered Congregational Service in the Center’s Development Department and Archives, Sister Honora returned to Guatemala in 1993. She ministered to the poor and marginalized in the growing shantytown of Mezquital, outside Guatemala City for eleven years. Sister Honora was involved in pastoral work, religious education and literacy.
Sister Honora returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2004, where she served as an office assistant for the congregation’s Eden Community until 2014.
A vespers service will be held for Sister Honora on Monday, January 11, 2016 at 4:15 p.m. in the Main Chapel at Maryknoll Sisters Center. A funeral Mass will follow on Tuesday, January 12 at 11:00 a.m. also in the Main Chapel at the Center. Interment will follow in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.