As we celebrate World Mission Day 2014, I recall the words of Dan Schutte’s song, Here I Am, Lord. In that song we hear God tell us: “I have heard my people cry… I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.” Then God asks, “Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?” In the refrain we are given the chance to answer by responding, “Here I am, Lord…I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
In these days the news is filled with the suffering of people facing the Ebola crisis in West Africa, with the terror and cry of people living amidst violence in the Middle East, with the concerns of people experiencing drought, floods or huge storms nearing their homelands. All these people look to someone to make their darkness bright. World Mission Day reminds us that we are all called and sent to share God’s light with our brothers and sisters throughout the whole world. They are looking for some Good News. If we are disciples of Jesus, then we do have Good News to share and we are all in effect, missionary disciples no matter where we are.
As a missioner in Bolivia, I remember one day watching families affected by the flooding of the Beni River in the northern Amazon region of the country. I realized that Jesus addressed not only learned scribes but crowds of people just like these families. It occurred to me, watching the mothers and children, that God knows each of us and that the Good News God would want us to have would never be a complicated message. The crowds in Galilee in the time of Jesus and ordinary people in Bolivia, in Tanzania, in Taiwan or in the Bronx today could begin to find hope by hearing from Jesus the Good News that they are loved by God.
The Good News is that God is Love and God holds each person like a loving parent. Each of us is made in God’s image and likeness and is therefore made to love and hold all people in our hearts, too. Jesus even pointed out who especially needs that love: the hungry and homeless, the ill and imprisoned, the prodigal son and the lost sheep. He said: Be merciful. Forgive. Rejoice. Just love. Not easy but not complicated. God is Love. Our life is all about love. And those families along the Beni River and many others throughout the world today should be able to find hope in that Good News: people can and will reach out to help one another through times of crisis.
As Pope Francis says in his message for World Mission Day 2014, ”the disciples were given an experience of God’s love, but also the possibility of sharing that love.”
This is not new. This is the core of our Christian belief. Teresa of Avila used the image of each of us being the hands and feet of Christ. And that was because love isn’t just a nice sentiment. It requires doing something. Each of us has so many gifts to share. And these many gifts can be a sign of God’s love for the person receiving the gift we share.
Some of us will share the gift of our prayers. And we know that prayer can bring about wonderful things. Some of us will share our gifts by directly reaching out and listening to, speaking with, and touching the persons who are suffering. Others will share the gift of themselves as they take the time to learn what others need and to network with other people and with those in the situation, advocating for the changes that must happen if our world is to be able to meet the needs we are seeing.
On this World Mission Day, I invite everyone to listen to God’s questions for today: “Who will bear my light to those suffering from violence, fear, illness, hunger, homelessness, isolation or rejection? Whom shall I send?”
May we all help one another to answer: “Here I am, Lord. I will go. I will hold your people in my heart.”
I became acutely aware of the need for more anesthesia providers in Korea as I was working at Maryknoll Hospital in Busan (previously Pusan). In many small hospitals, the medical doctor first gave the anesthetic, then operated, with no one watching the patient. This led to many unnecessary deaths which affected me deeply. Soon a kernel of an idea was beginning to take form–why not extend myself by teaching others to do anesthesia.
This is what I did. In 1970, with the support of our hospital administrator, the first class of nurses began. These men and women are still active in anesthesia, and have done exemplary work in the field over the years. I am so proud of them. As the students completed their study, they easily found placements in local hospitals which recognized their excellence in administering safe “watchful care” anesthesia.
By 1974, as we grew, the need became apparent to form an association of nurse anesthetists for updating, ongoing study, sharing of experiences and fellowship with each other. This was begun and the Korean Association of Nurse Anesthetists (KANA) was born. Our first meeting had 27 members. This past year, the group numbered over 600 members.
The next step was to have the program recognized as a certified program with the National Ministry in Korea. By the late 1970s, the program received approval as a certified program for nurse anesthetists, recognized by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. This was a moment of sheer joy for us all. I realized, in implementing the above and know now for sure, that it could not have accomplished this without the support, dedication and enthusiasm of the courageous men and women whom I had taught over the years.
While attending international anesthesia meetings, I learned from others that Korea was not unique in its professional challenges. Many other countries are confronted with similar difficulties and challenges. By supporting each other over country boundaries, we can succeed as one across the world. So remembering this, I look forward with much hope to the future of Nurse Anesthesia (NA), not only in Korea but around the world and that it be recognized for the remarkable service it is giving to all people.
As I reflect on those early years of our growth, what was so quickly noticeable was: initiating the NA program was a response to a real, felt need in Korean society in the field of anesthesia. The development of the KANA responded to a need for stability and organization: united together, we could effectively face the obstacles in our professional development and delivery of anesthesia. The KANA succeeded because of its devoted and committed members. In the formative years we received much support and assistance from members of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), namely John Garde, Ron Caulk and Sandra Maree Ouellette, who came to Korea as guest speakers several times at our annual meetings. We coordinated our meetings with those of the AANA and the IFNA, of which Korea is one of the Charter members.
In September 2014, I was pleased, honored and humbled to accept the prestigious Hermi Lohnert Award–and very special thanks to the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) board for selecting me, to the AANA for arranging this ceremony (held in Orlando, FL, on September 13, 2014), and to those who nominated me and supported my nomination. Also an enormous salute to Marianne Reisen of Switzerland, the other nominee for this year’s award. And thank you to my friends and colleagues in the field who have inspired me nationally and internationally, to ensure the relevance of nurse anesthesia in this changing world.
Lastly, I feel this award could rightly be given to the nurse anesthetists of Korea, for without them, nothing would have been developed over the years. I had the kernel of the idea, they were the leaven which made it increase and expand beyond our dreams or expectations! Over the years, I watched the development of the nurse anesthetists in Korea, and the advancements they have made personally and professionally in so many ways. The people of Korea have been beneficiaries of excellent anesthesia care, and I realize how fortunate I am to leave this legacy to the nurse anesthetists of Korea, confident that they will continue to initiate timely advances in promoting the continued success of the profession on the Korean peninsula.
In closing, our Maryknoll Sisters foundress, Mary Josephine Rogers, left us a great legacy, and much wisdom. I quote her here, for it also applies to the work in Korea:
“There is nothing more astonishing than life, just as it is,
Nothing more miraculous than growth and change and development,
Just as revealed to us.
And as happens so often when we stop to regard God’s work,
There is nothing to do but wonder and thank God,
Realizing how little we planned,
And yet how much has been done.”
–Mother Mary Josephine Rogers, MM (1936)
I am extremely grateful for having been in anesthesia and having been assigned to Korea, where my life blossomed thanks to God’s grace and the many wonderful, faithful, creative and talented people with whom I met over the years.
From Maryknoll Magazine: When Susan Wanzagi took her first vows as a Maryknoll Sister last August, her vocation journey came full circle—back to her baptism in Tanzania. Presiding at the Mass for Sister Wanzagi’s profession was the very same priest who baptized her 30 years earlier: Father Edward Dougherty, superior general of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers for the last six years.
While neither remembers the exact celebration of the sacrament, their entwining paths seem like, … well, providence.
Recently in Africa for a meeting of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers serving there, Father Dougherty learned that two young Tanzanians had expressed interest in joining the Maryknoll Sisters. “The missioners were excited, exclaiming that ‘two of our girls’ from Musoma are going to be Maryknoll missioners,” says Father Dougherty, who served in the Musoma Diocese of Tanzania from 1976 to 1986.
A short time later, when he was visiting Chicago, he met another future Maryknoll Sister from Tanzania, Susan Wanzagi, who comes from the Zanaki parish where he had served. She was in her canonical year—the last stage of preparation before taking her first vows as a Sister.
As they greeted each other, Sister Wanzagi surprised Father Dougherty with the news that he had baptized her when she was 4 years old!
Both had to admit they didn’t remember each other. Father Dougherty says he and the four other Maryknoll missioners then working in Zanaki spent most of their time visiting mission stations in the African bush, where they ministered to thousands of people.
“It was my first parish after ordination. I loved that mission,” says Father Dougherty. “It was huge, taking in at least 50 villages. That area was later divided into four or five parishes.”
It was Sister Wanzagi’s mother, Joyce, who had remembered him.
Sister Wanzagi says she owes her faith and vocation to her mother’s desire to provide her nine children with a solid religious upbringing. Peter Wanzagi, the new Sister’s late father, was a Catholic and her mother was a member of the Anglican Church. But Maryknoll Sisters had taught both of Sister Wanzagi’s parents and her mother decided to become a Catholic so the family could worship together. Susan’s mother was received into the Catholic Church and four of her children were baptized in the Zanaki parish in 1984.
Years later, when Susan announced to her family that she wanted to be a Maryknoll Sister, her mother told her of her baptism in the Maryknoll parish by none other than Father Edward Dougherty.
“When I was young, I felt that I would like to be a religious Sister,” Sister Wanzagi says. “But then I was busy studying in schools away from home and the thought left me for a while.” One day in 1999, Maryknoll Sister Connie Krautkremer visited Susan’s high school and spoke about the missionary work of the Maryknoll Sisters. She invited the students to think about their own lives and what God might be calling them to do. “It was then that I decided to be a Maryknoll Sister,” Sister Wanzagi says.
After finishing secondary school, she went to the University of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, earned a bachelor’s degree in education and taught high school while she discerned her calling.
On Jan. 6, 2012—the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Maryknoll Sisters—Susan was welcomed by the Sisters in Tanzania to begin her journey with the congregation by experiencing its prayer life and various ministries, sharing in the household duties and getting to know the Sisters and herself a little better. As she learned about the history and missions of the Maryknoll Sisters throughout the world, she says, “I was very moved to see the suffering of people and it helped to make my choice to be a Maryknoll Sister very strong.”
On Aug. 10 of this year, the spiritual relationship begun 30 years ago at baptism marked a milestone as Father Dougherty presided over the eucharistic celebration at which Susan Wanzagi pronounced her vows in the Maryknoll Sisters Chapel at Maryknoll, N.Y.
“It’s really exciting the way things develop,” Father Dougherty says, alluding to how the Holy Spirit has worked not only in Sister Susan’s life but also in the entire Wanzagi family. Sister Susan’s brother John is a priest for the Musoma Diocese and studying in Rome, and her sister Felista is following in Susan’s footsteps. Felista is in her first year of orientation with the Maryknoll Sisters in Tanzania.
“Mission is continuing through Susan, her brother and her sister and so many others where we served in mission years ago,” Father Dougherty says. “Truly, what goes around comes around and we are privileged to be a part of it.”
Graduation day will be held in November for seniors at St. Paul Catholic High School (Colégio São Paulo). As they receive their prized diplomas, the newly graduated members of the Class of 2014 in Aileu, East Timor, will have plenty of memories of lessons learned in the classroom. A Maryknoll Sister, though, will never forget what her students taught her.
“They led me out of the classroom and into villages, beaches, boats, marketplaces, kitchens, and mountain trails in the name of ‘teaching,’” Sister Julia Shideler said of the students who have risen from the poverty of their country to graduate.
“They taught me that a teacher is first of all a person who cares, gives of herself, practices what she teaches, models behavior rather than preaches it, has infinite patience, and offers all that she’s learned in life as living wisdom for a new generation.” Since arriving in East Timor six year ago, Sister Julia has taught subjects as diverse as geology, human origins, and English. Lately, she’s had lots of time to think about the students she said goodbye to for several months this year as she discerned professing Final Vows in September.
In addition to her preparation for Final Vows, Sister Julia, 36, has spent the last five months training to run a half-marathon race near Seattle. For each mile she completed in the Snohomish River Run on October 26, supporters are pledging to donate to the scholarship fund she created for her students back in East Timor. The teens’ fervent desire is to graduate from college, a dream that most of their families cannot afford.
“I was not a trained teacher when I left for East Timor, but what I learned about teaching came from my experiences with these beloved ones,” Sister Julia said of the teens, who have become more than ordinary students. Throughout the half-marathon, held in Snohomish, WA, the young people were on her on mind with each sprint she exerted. Sister Julia was happy with her success in the 13.5-mile race–she crossed the finish line with a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 17 seconds. That translates to about 9 minutes per mile! To all of her students back in East Timor, she says, “Thank you.”
Sister Julia is one of four Maryknoll Sisters who serve the economically poor in the island nation of 1,201,542 people (CIA World Factbook) just north of Darwin, Australia, with Indonesia as its neighbor. Education remains a challenge following years of war as the nation struggled for independence. Over 70 percent of children leave school before reaching the ninth year, according to the country’s Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030. In 2004, when a comprehensive census was completed, less than one in two people graduated from high school.
Celina Saldanha is among the lucky ones. A young woman in high school, Celina has eight young siblings and a single mother who suffers from back injuries. Celina was sent to Aileu to live with an uncle, Sister Julia said, but he can’t afford the school fees. ”I agreed to pay her tuition at the Catholic high school until she graduates. Otherwise, she may be forced to drop out.”
Francisco Martins also has a dream. Francisco was orphaned at a young age, losing both parents during the Indonesian occupation. Raised by an uncle, he was left alone after finishing high school. “I knew he was bright and capable,” Sister Julia said, “so with our support, he enrolled in mathematics with the dream of becoming a math teacher.”
“This ministry is ongoing,” she said, “as I try to follow up and stay in touch with the students.” During these months serving in the United States, while visiting family in the state of Washington, Sister Julia is preparing to return to East Timor with news of the scholarships she will be offering, raised in part from her half-marathon in October.
With all she has on her plate, Sister Julia gets inspiration from the young people who relied on her. One of the first students Sister Julia sent to college is now an English teacher; Pinto Pereira began college in 2008 with Sister Julia’s mentoring and financial help. “Through him, I have learned so much about life and families in the most remote villages of East Timor–and the challenges they face to overcome hurdles on their path to education. Tears still come to my eyes when I remember all the conversations we had on our front porch, in the sitting room, and the hours of stories I have listened to.”
In giving educational scholarships to more young people in Aileu District, including deserving members of the Class of 2014 at St. Paul’s, Sister Julia is hoping they learn a fundamental message of mission—and of life: “I want them to feel like God is there for them, working through other people, and that God will use them in the future to help other people.”
To donate to Sister Julia’s scholarship fund, please visit Nun Run.
From Maryknoll Magazine: I believe religious life has a prophetic voice for the world and that we need to proclaim this from the heart of who we are,” says Sister Antoinette (Nonie) Gutzler, the newly elected president of the Maryknoll Sisters.
She and a three-member team of Sisters will for the next six years lead their Congregation to continue to proclaim God’s love to the world. This, says Sister Gutzler, means discerning where the greatest needs are and how God is calling the Sisters to respond. The new leadership team brings to this task vast experience in mission overseas and in the United States.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sister Gutzler entered the Congregation in 1964. She took education courses at the Maryknoll Sisters Rogers College and earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from Mundelein College in Chicago in 1971.
That year she also received her first overseas assignment, to Tanzania, where she taught religion and helped establish a Christian center for high school students. In 1975 she returned to the States to do mission education in the New England area. In 1978 she was assigned to Taiwan. For the next 10 years she was director of the Sodality of Young Workers Center, founded by the Maryknoll Sisters for factory workers to find support and learn leadership skills.
Called back to Maryknoll, N.Y., in 1989, Sister Gutzler became director of the Sisters personnel office, which, she says, gave her the opportunity to meet many Sisters she didn’t know. She earned an M.A. and Ph.D., both in systematic theology, from Fordham University
and returned to Taiwan in 2001. Since then, she has been teaching in the theologate at Fu Jen University and giving lectures in theology throughout Asia.
Sister Gutzler says she remains inspired by her Taiwanese sisters and brothers. “Many,” she says, “live their faith in the midst of a multi-religious family, where they are the only Catholic.”
As for her Congregation, she says, “I hope we continue to grow in our contemplative awareness of what is happening in our world, with an ever deepening passion for Christ’s mission by being witnesses of God’s loving presence in all of creation and in all people.”
Sister Numeriana (Norie) Mojado, vice president, was born in the Philippines. After graduating as a nurse from the Marian School of Nursing in Manila, she worked in emergency rooms for 13 years in the Philippines, the United States and Canada. “However,” she says, “I needed something more. That’s when I saw Maryknoll magazine and applied to join the Sisters.”
She studied theology at the Maryknoll School of Theology and became certified in clinical pastoral education. In 1976, she received her first mission assignment: South Korea, to work in a psychiatric clinic in Seoul. Sister Mojado was part of an integrated community of Maryknoll priests, lay missioners and Korean religious and laity, offering pastoral counseling and spiritual direction among the urban poor. Maryknoll Father Russell Feldmeier was also on the team.
Back in the States, Sister Mojado earned a master’s degree in religious education, with concentrations in pastoral counseling and spiritual direction, at Fordham University. She then returned to Seoul and ministered to women involved in prostitution and migrant workers. She has served her Congregation as admissions co-director and personnel director. In 2013 she was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters contemplative community.
Regarding her new work on the Sisters leadership team, she says, “I believe it was all those experiences I’ve had that prepared me to accept this new ministry.”
Sister Anastasia Lott, team member, was born in Landstuhl, Germany, where her father was stationed as a member of the U.S. Air Force. The oldest of nine children, Sister Lott expressed a desire to be a Maryknoll missioner while still in high school in Santa Ana, Calif., but her parents encouraged her to finish her education first. She graduated from the University of San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
She spent two years with the Jesuit Volunteers Corps and then joined the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Assigned to Venezuela, she did community organizing and pastoral ministry in urban areas.
In 1986 she joined the Maryknoll Sisters and was assigned to Bura-Tana, a rural area in northeastern Kenya, for eight years. Then she worked in the capital of Nairobi as a community consultant with Jesuit Relief Services. She later moved to Namibia and did pastoral and leadership training for the Rundu Vicariate. During her last year in Namibia, Sister Lott served as human resource development officer for Catholic Health Services and volunteered with Criminals Return Into Society, teaching business management and computer skills to former inmates.
In 2003, she was called back to Maryknoll, N.Y., to be director of Planned Giving and later, the Development Department. “I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to serve my community,” she says, “and to work with and know our donors, who are really the bedrock of our work.”
Now, she says, “I plan to do the best I can on the leadership team to work together to serve the mission of God.”
Sister Teruko Ito, team member, was born in Kyoto, Japan. Seeing the Maryknoll Sisters in mission there inspired her. She decided to join them in 1968 after she graduated from Maryknoll College in the Philippines with a degree in math. Her first assignment took her to Tanzania, where she taught math in secondary school.
Returning to New York, she worked in the Congregation’s Development Department while earning a master’s degree in religious studies at Maryknoll School of Theology. In 1978 she was assigned to Japan, where for almost 10 years she assisted a Maryknoll priest in establishing and expanding the Alcoholics Anonymous program. “I was there not as a therapist, but as a friend for whoever wished to have a conversation with me to deepen their understanding about a Higher Power,” Sister Ito says. By the time she left, there were 10 AA centers throughout Japan.
In 1989 Sister Ito was assigned as co-director of the Sisters’ orientation house for new members. She remained there for five years and after studying pastoral counseling at Fordham University, she went to Guatemala to work with indigenous Mayan women, assisting them with potable water projects, medical aid and building self-esteem. “Now they are in charge of various projects and have become proud of who they are,” says Sister Ito.
As a member of the Sisters’ leadership team, she says, “I hope to be able to share my experiences, where I witnessed miracles happening in the lives of others because they surrendered themselves to a Higher Power.”
Sisters Janice McLaughlin and Antoinette Gutzler, the exiting and incoming Presidents of Maryknoll Sisters, each reflected on the past and future of their congregation at a Mass held January 4 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, during which Sister Antoinette, along with Sisters Numeriana Mojado, incoming vice president, Anastasia Lott and Teruko Ito were installed as the new Congregational Leadership Team for Maryknoll Sisters. The new team, which were elected to serve by representatives of their membership at the congregation’s 17th General Assembly this past September, will serve their community in this capacity for the next six years.
“We Maryknoll Sisters have embraced many dawns and navigated many shifts since that winter day in 1912 when the first three women arrived at Hawthorne to participate in a new missionary venture,” Sister Janice noted in her opening remarks, referencing the congregation’s theme for the coming six years: Embrace the Dawn; Navigate the Shifts. “They had no idea how this venture would unfold…. In our new mission statement, we pledge to be ‘wholemakers,’ to engage our energies in mission by promoting the free flowing of God’s love to those most affected by the critical issues of our time…We are aware that new issues will continue to emerge. They will call us to leave our comfort zones, to nourish wholeness of being in one earth community, wherever that takes us….” (See PDF)
Sister Antoinette reflected that the Star that hovered over the stable in Bethlehem was the same Star that drew Mollie Rogers, their beloved Mother Mary Joseph, into her religious experience at Smith College, when she was drawn to the excitement of the Protestant girls who had just signed the student pledge to go to China.
“As she prayed in the church across the street, she[Mother Mary Joseph] measured her faith and her expression of it by the sight she had just witnessed, and she began to embrace the dawn of this new desire taking root in her heart, the desire for Catholic women to also be a part of the missionary endeavor of the Church. The Star that captivated our first women to Maryknoll is the same Star that we hold close to our hearts as we embrace the dawn of this new moment and navigate the journey of mission today, for we too are stewards of God’s voice.” (See PDF)
During the Mass, the exiting Congregational Leadership Team exchanged gifts of painted stone, symbolic of spiritual gifts they passed on to the new team. One of fire, symbolizing transformation, was bestowed on Sister Antoinette; another, of earth, symbolizing nurturing and grounding, was given to Sister Numeriana; a third, showing water, symbolizing cleansing and healing, was given to Sister Anastasia, and the final one, depicting air, a symbol of discernment, was given to Sister Teruko.
The new leadership team comes to their roles from various levels and modes of experience, talents and abilities.
Sister Antoinette Gutzler, President. Born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in Queens, Sister Antoinette is a 2001 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with a Ph.D. in systematic theology. She has taught in both Tanzania and Taiwan during her 50 years with Maryknoll. Her recent publications include: “Internalization and Globalization of Women’s Homelessness: A Taiwan Perspective” (2010) and “Navigating the Tradition: A Christian Feminist Perspective on the Power of Creedal Language to Shape the Lives of Women” (2008). She is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), The American Academy of Religion (AAR), and consultant to the Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA).
Sister Numeriana Mojado, Vice-President. Born in the Philipppines, Sister Numeriana is a 1998 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with an M.S. in Religious Studies and an R.N. from Marian School of Nursing, Manila. During her nearly 40 years with Maryknoll Sisters she has ministered among the urban poor in Korea and migrant workers. She is a member of the Maryknoll Sisters Contemplative Community.
Sister Anastasia Lott, General Secretary. Sister Anastasia is holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of San Diego (1979) and an M. A. in African Studies from the Maryknoll Institute for African Studies of St. Mary’s University. She has done pastoral, leadership development and health work in Venezuela, Tanzania and Namibia. For the past 11 years, she hasI served in the congregation’s Development Department, first as director of planned giving from 2003-2010, then as Director of Development from 2010-2014.
Sister Teruko Ito, Team Member. Sister Teruko, a native of Japan, is a 1995 graduate of Fordham University, Bronx, NY, with an M.A. in Religion and Religious Education. She has served in Tanzania, where she taught high school mathematics, and in Japan, where she did social work for alcoholism-related programs from 1978-1988. She served as a member of the Congregational Orientation Program in Newburgh, NY from 1989-1994. She was also involved in the Ministry of the Promotion of Women for the Diocese of San Marcos from 1995-2004.
The call to be “wholemakers” was emphasized to Maryknoll Sisters at a special Mass held this past Sunday, February 15, 2015, to honor members of the congregation celebrating their 75th, 70th and 60th jubilees with Maryknoll Sisters at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Referencing Bible passages from the day’s Mass, which told of Jesus healing a leper, despite the fact that He would be considered “unclean” by the religious authorities of His day simply because He had touched him, Sister Suzanne Moore, one of the jubilarians, drew an analogy with the work they, as Maryknoll Sisters were called to do. Like Jesus, the Sisters were called to reach out to those who were broken or rejected in society and do what they could to make them whole.
“We Maryknollers are welcomers,” Sister Suzanne said. “We try to make people feel whole. We are wholemakers. Those who come to us we strive to receive warmly. Our smile, our touch becomes their understanding that we care, just as theirs does for us. … It takes faith and courage to welcome the outcast, to bring that person the clarity that they matter to God and to us, to love and assist them.
“Oppression doesn’t fit today,” Sister Suzanne further commented, alluding to scientific discoveries of an ever expanding universe and teachings of theologians such as Teihard de Chardin that have led to wider, more embracing understandings of our cosmos and what it means to live as Christians in today’s world. “We hear the voices of those in need. Lepers, immigrants, the abused, human traffickers, children robbed of their childhood, people of every land are our sisters and brothers, deserving of and asking for recognition, justice and inclusion. According to Ched Meyers in his book, Binding the Strong Man, the lepers represent the presence of life-long oppression, and Jesus took steps to annihilate that… and brought us to a greater understanding of the great love God has for each creature… none to be left behind. What a challenge! Yes, we have embraced it and we will continue to do so.”
A separate Mass for Sisters celebrating 75 years with the congregation will be held in the Fourth Floor Chapel of Maryknoll Sisters Center next Sunday, February 22, 2015, at 11 a.m.
Ten other Sisters, each marking half a century of service with Maryknoll, will celebrate their milestone at another Mass, to be held August 2, 2015, at the Center. Three Sisters marking a quarter century of service will do so on Sunday, September 13, 2015, in Japan.
Those Sisters celebrating 60, 70 and 75 years with the congregation in 2015 include:
75 Years
Sister Alice Regina McGinn of Providence, RI. Sister Alice Regina has served as a principal, teacher and catechetics instructor in Bolivia and Peru. She also has been involved in pastoral ministry at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and other parishes in Providence. She holds a B.S. in education from Maryknoll Teachers College.
Sister Mary Naab of Passaic, NJ. Sister Mary is a social worker who has served most of her time with Maryknoll in the Pacific. She has been in management with Catholic Social Services in Hawaii and California, and helped establish a CSS program in American Samoa.
Sister Vivian Votruba of Minneapolis, MN. Sister Vivian is a medical doctor and has spent most of her 75 years in Bolivia and Peru. She also served in a hospital on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico and gave public health service at St. Catherine’s Mission in Minnesota, and currently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY.
70 Years
Sister Camille Marie Black of Andover, NY. Sister Camile Marie served as nursing supervisor of medical, surgical and pediatrics at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Manapla, Philippines; assistant director of Colegio Monte Maria boarding school, Guatemala City, Guatemala; and nurse in a clinic, then hospital, also in Guatemala.
Sister Louise Bullis of Brooklyn, NY. Sister Louise served in Hawaii, as a teacher and religious education coordinator, for 55 years. She has made her home at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining since 2007, and was active in coordinating special events for the congregation’s 100th anniversary in 2012.
Sister Cecile Therese Burton of Washington, DC. Sister Cecile Therese was an educator, then religious education coordinator, in Hawaii for 38 years. She then worked with women in prisons and shelters in Hawaii from 1991-1999.
Sister Maria Rosario Daley of Albany, NY. She was a teacher, then guidance counselor, and finally sacristan and Eucharistic minister in Hawaii, where she currently makes her home. She also taught mathematics at Mary Rogers College, Ossining, NY, and served as personnel coordinator of lay employees at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, also in Ossining.
Sister Noel Chabanel Devine of Philadelphia, PA. Sister Noel taught at St. Therese’s School in Chicago’s Chinatown from 1959-1969 and 1983, serving also as religion coordinator for both school and parish from 1985-1991, directing the parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program. She also taught at Maryknoll Sisters Secondary School in Hong Kong, where she also established a guidance and counseling department, from 1969-1972, and in the congregation’s Archives office from 1980-1983. She presently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Sister Doretta Leonard of New York, NY. A graduate of Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School, Brooklyn, NY, Sister Doretta taught and did catechetical and parish work in China for 54 years. She has made her home at the Maryknoll Sisters Center since 2005.
Sister Marie Morgan of Pittsburgh, PA. A pharmacist with a certificate in clinical pastoral education, Sister Marie worked at Queen of the World Hospital, one of the nation’s first interracial hospitals, in Kansas City, MO; doing leadership training, catechetics and facilitating a weaver’s cooperative in Jacatenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala; worked in AIDS preventative education in Guatemala and El Salvador, and pastoral ministry in Mexico. She currently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Sister Joan Ratermann of St. Louis, MO. Sister Joan served in Chile for 49 years. During that time, she work as a teacher, principal, catechetical trainer, Bible study group and retreat leader, as well as in pastoral ministry. She now lives at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY, where she worked in the Development Department from 2005-2009, and, since then, is dedicated wholly to prayer for the Chilean people.
Sister M. Katharine Razwad of Boston, MA. Sister Katharine taught in the South Pacific for 18 years, then, after earning a master’s degree in counseling and psychology at Boston College, worked as a counselor from 1973-1975 and in preventative counseling on the elementary school level in the Boston Public School System from 1976-1983. She also served as a substitute teacher for the Boston school system and as a guidance counselor for St. Brigid’s School, Boston, from 1990-1995. She currently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Sister Maria Rieckelman of Cincinnati, OH. Sister Maria is a physician and psychiatrist. She worked in Asia, first Korea, then Hong Kong, for 13 years, then embarked upon 27 years of itinerant ministry to other missioners and leaders in 30 different nations, helping them face issues of interpersonal growth, leadership, trauma and stress through workshops, retreats and individual counseling. She currently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Sister Gloria Ryan of Brooklyn, NY. Sister Gloria served in the Philippines for 19 years, first as a teacher then working with the poor in Filipino barrios. She then returned to the United States where she worked with runaway girls at St. Brigid’s Convent, New York, NY, and taught in the adult education program of the Rochambeau School, White Plains, NY. She also worked with Salvadoran refugees out of St. Brigid’s Convent, Westbury, NY. Sister Gloria currently resides at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Ossining, NY.
Sister Kathryn Shannon of Oconomowoc, WI. Sister Kathryn has taught in New York, Hawaii, and Tanzania, where she also worked in primary evangelization, religion, literacy, leadership traing, adult education and community development. She also served in Zimbabwe, where she taught at the Danhiko School for former Freedom Fighters and at St. Alphonsus Parish, where she was also involved with community development. She also served as a teacher and catechist trainer in Southern Sudan, and was involved with justice and peace issues via the Maryknoll Sisters’ Center Cerns Committee at their Center in Ossining, NY. She presently makes her home at Maryknoll Sisters Convent, Monrovia, CA.
60 Years
Sister Theresa Baldini of Brooklyn, NY, has been part of her congregation’s contemplative community since 1963. During that time, she has not only served in the congregation’s contemplative community near Ossining, NY, where she presently resides, but founded such communities among the Navajo people in New Mexico and in Sudan.
Sister Mary Edna Brophy of High River, AB, Canada. A medical missioner, Sister Mary Edna has spent most of her 60 years in Hong Kong, where she has train others in nursing and provided administration at hospitals and clinics. She has also provided health care to the elderly and infirm of her own congregation near Ossining, NY.
Sister Joyce Burch of Memphis, TN. A medical technician and nurse, Sister Joyce has served at Queen of the World Hospital, Kansas City, MO, the first interracial U.S. hospital, then in Tanzania and Kenya, finally working to care for the health of ill and elderly Maryknoll Sisters at its Center near Ossining, NY, where she currently resides.
Sister Elizabeth Burns of Hartford, CT. A medical missioner, Sister Elizabeth has provided health care in Korea and the United States. Now residing at the Sisters Center near Ossining, NY, she became recipient of Distinguished Managerial Service Award from the State of Connecticut in 1987 for her work with the Connecticut State Health Department from 1973-1999. During that time, she served first as a hospital inspector and consultant, then as Chief of Licensure and Certification of Medical Facilities, then as Director of Hospital and Medical Care, and finally as Chief of Staff of the Health Department.
Sister Anne Callahan of Lowell, MA has served two terms as Treasurer of her congregation, located near Ossining, NY. She has served as an educator and principal in Hawaii, as well as a pastoral worker in Mexico and Guatemala. She currently lives in Baltimore, MD.
Sister Marlene Condon of Montevideo, MN. Sister Marlene is a medical missioner who served at Queen of the World Hospital, the nation’s first interracial hospital, in Kansas City, MO, as well as Chile and Guatemala. She is currently director of St. Mary’s Hospice, Pajapita, Guatemala.
Sister Kathleen Kelly of Chicago, IL. Sister Kathleen most recently served at Mujeres Latinas en Accion, a bilingual social service agency in Chicago, and, previously, at the Institute of Human Promotion, working for human rights and the welfare of families and communities in Nicaragua. She has also taught commercial subjects in Nicaragua.
Sister Vera Krass of Jamaica, NY, has served in Tanzania, Kenya and the United States. Her work has including teaching high school in East Africa, working with the homeless in Honolulu, HI, and with senior citizens in California.
Sister Josephine Lucker of El Paso, TX,has spent much of her missionary life in Africa, first as a teacher, then headmistress, at schools in Tanzania, then providing catechetical training throughout East Africa, followed by work with refugees in Zimbabwe and El Salvador.
Sister Suzanne Moore of Burlington, VT, a social worker for more than 50 years, coordinates immigration services at Maryknoll Sisters Center near Ossining, NY, and works with immigrants under the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary Life Center at St. Ann’s Parish, Ossining, and other Westchester County locations.
