Maryknoll, NY: Sister Helen Marie Werner died on January 10, 2025 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 105 years old and a Maryknoll Sister for 87 years.
On January 6, 1920 Sister Helen Marie Werner was born in Fowler, MI to Lena Motz Werner and Joseph Werner. She had two brothers and five sisters; all have predeceased her.
From 1933 to 1937, Sister Helen attended Pubil High School and Holy Trinity, in Fowler, MI. She earned her Bachelor of Education from Maryknoll Teachers Training College in 1944 in Maryknoll, NY. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters at Maryknoll, NY on June 7, 1938 from her Holy Trinity parish in Detroit, MI. She pronounced her First Profession of Vows on January 6, 1941 in Maryknoll, NY and her Final Vows on January 6, 1944 also in Maryknoll, NY.
In 1944, Sr. Helen was assigned to Balboa, Panama, where she taught children of Jamaican immigrants for ten years. She was very aware of the poverty and dehumanizing conditions of the inner city. In 1954, she made her Renewal at Maryknoll, NY, and during that time her request to enter the Maryknoll Cloister was honored. She entered on August 15, 1954.
In 1984, the Maryknoll Sisters in Guatemala requested the Contemplative Community to begin a Prayer Presence in the El Quiche area of Guatemala, an area affected by violence during the years of the Civil War. In 1985, Sr. Helen was one of the two chosen to do the research of the area, their report was very positive and Srs. Helen, Mary Ruth Riconda and Consuela Torrecer were in the first group assigned to Guatemala in January 1986. After Language School in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Helen and her companions officially began the Prayer Presence in Lemoa, El Quiche, Guatemala.
Helen spent 35 beautiful years in Lemoa, outreaching and being touched by innumerable contacts. In a reflection Helen wrote in May 2021, after she made her decision to return to Maryknoll, NY, she shared that the big YES in her life was to the invitation from the Maryknoll Sisters to come to Guatemala and to be open to all that would unfold in her 35 years there. There were many other “YES” moments, including to the Monte Maria Graduates, beautiful friendships and a “YES” to collaborate with Mark Ely, who was assisting the Methodist Orphanage in Lemoa, providing scholarships for the children. Helen’s last “YES” was to the CALL back to the Sisters Center to join her Contemplative Community and to hold in her heart and prayer the people of Guatemala. It was not easy to leave Lemoa, where she experienced the fullness of her mission-contemplative vocation, living it out in the midst of the poor and knowing the love of the Sisters of the Guatemala Region.
Sr. Helen arrived at the Sisters Center in 2021, and during her almost four years in the Nursing Residence “Eden Community,” she participated in the prayer and activities there, keeping in touch with family and friends
On January 10, 2025, Sr. Helen went home to God. As is our custom, our Maryknoll Sisters were by her side as we prayed together as Helen’s beautiful spirit gently took wing, entering into Eternal LOVE, as we hold forever her sacred presence in our hearts! Helen gave her body for medical science,
Funeral Services:
A Vespers Service will be held for Sister Helen Werner on Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY.
A Memorial Mass will be held on Friday, January 24, 2025 at 10:00 A.M. at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.