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.