Maryknoll Sisters

Maryknoll, NY: Sister Jean Fallon died on March 8, 2025 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 94 years old and a Maryknoll Sister for 78 years.

On May 7, 1930, Jean Marie Fallon was born in Seattle, WA to Bertha Hutchinson Fallon and Leo W. Fallon.  She had two brothers, Robert and William, who have predeceased her.  Her nieces survive her.

From 1943-1947, Sister Jean attended Holy Name Academy High School in Seattle. Shortly after graduating high school, she entered the Maryknoll Sisters on September 6, 1947 from her home parish of St. Joseph in Seattle. She made her First Profession of Vows on March 7, 1950 in Maryknoll, NY and her Final Profession of Vows in Japan in 1953.

Sister was assigned to Japan in 1951, but before she sailed there, she attended the Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages to study Japanese. At that time, many of the Sisters worked in the pastoral ministry with the Maryknoll Fathers in the Kyoto Diocese.  For the next 20 years, moving from parish to parish, teaching catechumens, working with women, youth and children’s groups and participating in various outreach and service organizations in the local area. She lived and worked in the following parishes from 1951-1971: Saiin, Otsu, Takano, Yokkaichi, and Tsu.

Living in the Center House in Matsugasaki, Kyoto, she participated in Regional governance for a few years and attended various Congregational meetings.  She was also involved with the Better World Retreat movement, which fostered growth in Christian living in parish communities.

From 1974-1979, Sister devoted herself to World Awareness Education Programs in the northwest of the U.S.   Returning to Japan in 1979, she began work with the National Catholic Council of Justice and Peace as part of the Peace Education Section.  She also worked on the Philippines Concerns Committee. Jean also cooperated with the National Christian Council’s (NCC) Peace and Nuclear Issues Committee; Association of Major Superiors of Women’s Task Force for Action in Asia (TFA).  During these years, Jean collaborated with others in compiling three books about various topics of social concern. She likewise contributed articles about these topics to religious publications in Japan.  She wrote poetry that featured meditations on nature and daily experiences. In 1995, she took Scriptural, Ecumenical and Peace Studies at the Tantur Institute in Jerusalem, during her Renewal period.

In 2001, Sister Jean began her work with the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns as an Associate Representative of the Maryknoll Sisters NGO at the United Nations.  In 2006, she inquired about joining the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). After intensive training, she was sent for monthly terms of service with their Team in Hebron, Palestine for the next several years.

In 2008, Sister was assigned to the Center Rogers Community, Maryknoll, NY. Here she active in the CenterCerns Committee, meeting monthly with the group, alerting Sisters via e-mail and other notices of social issues in the local area and wider world and indicating actions they could take. She attended protest rallies, gave talks at anti-nuclear events and participated in various related conferences.  she cooperated with numerous organizations concerned with social issues: PAX CHRISTI Metro (NY); WESPAC Foundation in Westchester; ROAR (Religious Organization Along the River) concerned with the Hudson Valley bioregion; the Dominican Sisters Justice & Peace Promoters group; and BOMA (Briarcliff, Ossining Ministerial Association.)

In 2022, Pax Christi USA designated 20 people as an “Ambassador of Peace” in celebration of their 50^th Anniversary. Sister Jean was one of them.  In their statement to the public they stated that “Ambassadors of Peace are extraordinary and experienced leaders with the Pax Christi USA community who serve as living embodiments of what it means to live a life rooted in the ‘peace of Christ’. They were chosen for contributions they have made in preaching, teaching and practicing gospel nonviolence peacemaking, anti-racism, reconciliation and justice.”

Funeral Services:

A Vespers Service was held for Sister Jean on Monday, March 24, 2025 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY.

A Memorial Mass was held on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 10:00 A.M. at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.

Maryknoll, NY: Sister Maureen Gunning died on March 18, 2025 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 93 years old and a Maryknoll Sister for 74 years.

On May 29, 1931, Maureen Isabel Gunning was born in Covington, KY to Gladys Leach Gunning and George Gunning.  She had two brothers and four sisters; many nieces and nephews survive her.

From 1945 to 1949, Sister Maureen attended Christ the King High School in Atlanta, GA.   She earned her Bachelor of Education at Maryknoll Teachers College in 1958 in New York. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters at Valley Park, MO on February 1, 1951 from her home parish of Christ the King.  She pronounced her First Profession of Vows on September 8, 1953 in Valley Park, MO and her Final Vows on September 8, 1959 in Los Angeles, CA.

In 1953, she worked in the Seminary kitchen for a year and for a second year in Sr. Marie Pierre Semler, MM’s Chi Rho Arts in our Bethany nursing home, where she honed her skill at doing beautiful calligraphy. And in June 1958, she was assigned to teach First Grade in Los Angeles until 1964.   That year she was assigned to the South China Region.  She studied Mandarin Chinese for a year, in Kowloon, Hong Kong, before going to Taiwan.  With the exception of two periods of Congregational Service – Maureen served in mission in Taiwan from 1965 until 2008.

Starting in 1965, for six years, she taught English to university students in both Taichung and Taipei and at the same time directed hostels for women university students in both of those cities. After three years of Development work in the US, on her return to Taiwan in 1974, she served ten years as a chaplain for blue-collar factory workers, in the Young Christian Workers’ movement at the Jesuit-run Catholic Social Service Center in Hsinchu.  In 1984 Maureen studied the Taiwanese dialect for two years as preparation for what became her most treasured service, a Christian Presence ministry in Chiayi, Kaohsiung and Taichung cities, from 1986 to 1994 and again from 1999 to 2008. During those years, Maureen also served on the Taiwan Maryknoll Sisters’ Regional Governing Board for a period of four years.  Maureen, with her dear friend, Sr. Pauline Sticka, MM, raised Presence Ministry – simply walking the streets of the neighborhoods where they lived, meeting people and becoming friends.

Sister retired in 2008 to the Maryknoll Sisters’ Community in Monrovia, CA where she served for two years as a member of the Monrovia Coordinating Team.  In 2018, she returned to Maryknoll New York to the Rogers (active) Community, and was assigned in 2021 to the Assisted Living section of our Eden Community at the Center.  There, despite a failing short-term memory, Maureen continued to be her gentle, kind and welcoming self, always totally present to whoever she was with at the moment.  She was greatly loved by all who interacted with her, both Sisters and lay staff. We are so grateful to the Eden staff who cared for her with such tenderness, kindness and devotion.

Funeral Services:

A Vespers Service was held for Sister Maureen Gunning on Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Friday, March 28, 2025 at 10:00 A.M. at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.