Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Charlotte Hobler, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She is from Baltimore, MD and joined Maryknoll in 1947. She served on the Maryknoll Sisters Formation team for the novitiate, receiving an assignment to the Philippines in 1965. At Maryknoll College in Manila she was Coordinator and a theology teacher and taught New Testament at the Sister Formation Institute.
Returning to the States, Sister Charlotte studied nursing and Clinical Pastoral Education, was a volunteer at a health center, and received her license as a registered professional nurse from the University of the State of NY Education Dept. She became Director of Nurses at the Maryknoll Sisters Nursing Home.

Responding to a request for nurses from the National Council of Churches when the war in Lebanon was growing worse in 1982, Sister Charlotte joined a group who were to reopen the Palestinian Hospital in Gaza between two refugee camps near West Beirut. During those three months, “Hard lessons came to those of us new to refugee nursing. One was that not all the psychiatrists in the Middle East could meet the needs of people traumatized by war.”

In 1983, Sister Charlotte joined the Maryknoll Sisters diocesan team in the jungle area of El Peten, Guatemala, traveling by jeep and hanging a hammock to give courses for women in nine parishes—Preventive Health, basic evangelization, courses to raise the dignity of women. When they turned this work over to their women Collaborators, Sister Charlotte worked as a nurse educator on an AIDS team in San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.

She became a member of the Eastern U.S. Region in 2007 and is a volunteer in the Housing Advocacy Committee in the twin parishes of Most Precious Blood and St. Anthony of Padua in Baltimore, MD.

Sister Cecilia Santos, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Being a neighbor and a friend is part of what mission is about. Sister Cecelia Santos was affirmed in this when she received the “Distinguished Neighbor” award recommended by the people of Coelemu, Chile in 1991.

Sister Cecelia was born in Paia, Maui, Hawaii, the youngest of eleven children. She had imbibed much about mission through her primary and secondary education with Maryknoll Sisters in Wailuku, Maui. After graduating from high school, she entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1947 and graduated from Maryknoll Teachers College with a Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1954. Assigned to Hawaii that same year, she taught for eight years in elementary schools in Waialua and Kalihi.

She was assigned to Chile in 1962, and after a year of language study in Pucón, she continued her education ministry as both teacher and principal in Maryknoll schools in Santiago, Curepto and Chillán. Sister Cecelia was loaned to Hawaii in 1970 and 1971 to teach in Wailuku, Maui and Waikiki, Honolulu. On her return to Chile she continued living in Chillán, teaching sixth grade and making time also for a bible study group, a course for mothers to do sacramental preparation, and, as always, home visiting.

In 1976, her energies and talents were shared for two years at Maryknoll, New York in Supportive Services. She then spent a year living with the Maryknoll Sisters Contemplative Community, an experience she treasures.

Sister Cecelia returned to Chile and the town which still holds her special affection, Coelemu. Her pastoral work included supporting Basic Christian Communities, youth ministry, catechetics and training lay leaders. She has been involved in endeavors as diverse as building a chapel with a group of women for their village, to operating an eyeglasses bank for those unable to afford glasses, and being chaplain of a 60 bed hospital. She presides at wakes and funerals when needed and also Sunday celebrations not covered by the pastor.

Of the forty years Sister Cecelia has spent in Chile, she has been a “Distinguished Neighbor” in Coelemu for twenty-eight years. Besides all of the above she has an exceptional singing voice and brightens entertainments with both Hawaiian chants and Spanish songs.

In late 2015, Sister Cecelia returned to Hawaii to begin a new mission.

Sister Barbara Barr, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in the Canal Zone of the Republic of Panama and entered Maryknoll Sisters in 1947. Assigned to Bolivia in 1952, she taught in Maryknoll Elementary Schools throughout the country. She also did In-service Education of Teachers. By1972,”we helped turn over the schools to lay women teachers whom we had been training for years.Then I began working with informal groups in the rural areas.Together we developed a popular “informal” education program for Scripture study groups as well as groups for empowering and promoting Women.” Sister has also served in Congregational Services at Maryknoll, NY where she now participates in the Rogers Community.

Sister Ann Katherine Klaus, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Marion, Ohio. and entered Maryknoll in 1947. She was assigned to Tanzania, East Africa, in 1951. In 2012, Sister Anne was assigned to the Rogers Community at Maryknoll, NY, where she is an active member.

Returning to Tanzania, Sister Ann continued her ministry with the development of women. In 1994, Sister Ann joined the Maryknoll Sisters working in Kalebejo in the program VEMA, a Kiswahili word meaning complete well-being. The program includes education, development and health, integrated to bringing about the well-being of people living and working in the villages. Sister Ann joined in the pastoral ministry to the forty-seven outstations. She also helped the women to earn money by selling articles they sewed, and giving seminars on handicrafts in other locations.

Presently Sister Ann works with the urban poor, living on the rocky hills of Mwanza. With past relationships with so many people, Sister Ann channels help to people living with HIV/AIDS, students who are orphans, their caregivers; some widows and others in need. Sister Ann’s goal is to help students finish school, learn a trade and find work. She visits the homes of people she helps, visits the hospital patients and continues teaching baking and solar cooking, and crafts to a group of women. The talents and zeal of this pioneer are still at the service of mission.

From 1987 to 1989 Sister Ann was in Somalia, where she worked with other Maryknoll Sisters in a refugee camp for Ethiopians under the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Somali health department. At Christmas, Sister Ann wrote home,“In a country where most people are Muslim, celebrating the birth of Jesus takes the form of deepening awareness of the great gift we have been given, and of God’s mysterious ways with people and with nations. Jesus chose a moment of entering our history is somewhat like our present moment in Somalia. The simple life style of the people – taking sheep to pasture, carrying water, cooking over wood fires – is reminiscent of Bethlehem. Each day we witness the fidelity of a whole nation to the call to worship Allah at set times.”

In the ‘70s and ‘80s Sister Ann put her energies into pastoral group work, especially women’s development in rural areas. In the open air, Sister Ann and African co-workers had very practical classes. “We really cook beans, sew a dress, wash a baby.”

Sister Ann witnessed Tanganyika becoming a republic in 1962 and Maryknoll’s friend, Julius Nyerere, being elected President of the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar) in 1964. When the Tanzania government asked the Sisters to teach secondary school rather than primary, Sister Ann chose to teach adult women basic skills to improve their daily lives. Sister Ann wrote a cookbook in Swahili and later adapted it in her campaign for making solar stoves to save the trees.

During the ‘50s and ‘60s Sister Ann taught in girls schools in various towns in the bush; was in charge of a primary school; and gave domestic science courses to girls who could not go to middle school. Sister Ann taught aspirants to religious life as initial preparation for the African community begun by Maryknoll Sisters, now the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa.

After ten years of mission in Africa, Sister Ann visited her hometown, Marion, Ohio, and the family she left in 1947.

Sister Anita Smith, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Hartford, CT, Anita Smith earned a B.S. degree in Econ./Business Administration from St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford, CT, before entering Maryknoll in 1947. Sister Anita was assigned to Hawaii in 1950 and taught in Wailua and Punahou. She represented the Hawaii Region at the Maryknoll Sisters Chapter of Affairs in 1968.

After earning her M.A. in education administration from Fairfield University, CT, Sister Anita became principal of Maryknoll Elementary School in Honolulu for the next ten years.

Sister Anita then earned an M.A. degree in pastoral ministry from St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford. During her fieldwork, she taught a Confirmation class in a parish and worked in a friendship house in Hartford. Following graduation, she spent a year at Covenant House in New York City.

Returning to Hawaii, she did pastoral work in Kona, on the island of Hawaii, where her ministries varied from alternating chaplaincy with an ecumenical group of ministers to participating in a drug awareness program in the schools and Bible study classes.

In 1990, she served for three years in the office of congregational personnel and lay employees in Maryknoll, NY. Then then joined a community of semi-retired Maryknoll Sisters in Waterbury, CT, where she was employed at Catholic Family Service and later at Trust House, a learning center for the under-privileged in Hartford.

Sister Anita joined the Eastern U.S. Region in 2002 and lives in Marlborough, CT.

Sister Sylvia Pacheco, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Marida, Yucatan, Mexico. She received a B.S. degree from Colegio Teresiano in Marida and then taught two years. Silvia met the Maryknoll Sisters in Marida through a friend. She never thought she was going to join any religious Congregation. However, on October 9, 1956 Silvia went over to talk to a Maryknoll Sister friend to tell her she was interested in joining Maryknoll and she learned that Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, Foundress of the Maryknoll Sisters, had died that day. She considered this a very special coincidence. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957 and after her first profession of vows she taught Spanish as a second language at Rogers College and also received her B.S. in Education from Rogers College.

In 1964 Sister Silvia was assigned to Mexico where she taught principally in secondary schools in both Marida and Mexico City after which she again joined the faculty of Rogers College for two years. Returning to Mexico she earned her Masters in Social Work from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. In 1979 Sister Silvia was assigned to Guatemala and adapted from life in the metropolis of Mexico City to the jungle, river trips and outdoor plumbing of the rural Peten. As a talented guitarist she enlivened liturgies and meetings in all her pastoral work as well as helping out in courses for health promoters.

In 1982 she continued pastoral work with the indigenous in another state of Guatemala, San Marcos. As a member of an inter-disciplinary team her ministry included adult education for women, preparation of religious leaders, basic training for health promoters and programs for alcoholics and their families in the context of a rural parish organized around Basic Ecclesial Communities and later she continued to assist the health promoter program on a diocesan level.

Last year Sister Silvia was asked to be the Administrator of a Maryknoll Residence serving Maryknollers in Central America as a meeting place, retreat house and house of warm hospitality to those coming to Guatemala City. For more than 20 years the Guatemalan people have stolen Sister Silvia’s heart and the feeling is obviously mutual when you see her in her ministry. This people with a history of years of violence continues to share a deep faith and hope for a better future and they are able to laugh and enjoy life in spite of all the experiences of violence.

Sister Susan Gubbins, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Evergreen Park, IL. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957. Sister Susan received a B.A. in Sociology in 1967 from St. Catherine’s, St. Paul, MN. That same year she was assigned to Hong Kong where she was Coordinator of the Group & Community Dept. of Caritas-Hong Kong as well as supervising youth activities in a Catholic Welfare Center.

In 1974, Sister Susan received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago and was assigned to Indonesia in 1975 where she set up a community based health program; was a consultant for social work in Bandung hospitals and eventually a teacher in the National School for Social Welfare. As always, Sister Susan made friends everywhere and especially in her own neighborhood of Muslim families.

Sister Susan assisted at a program in Rome in 1980 geared to Christians for a better understanding of Muslims.

In 1991, Sister Sue Gubbins and four other Maryknoll Sisters opened a new mission in East Timor, an island in the Indonesian archipelago. They were invited to East Timor by Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili.  On Mardi Gras they arrived in the mountain parish of Aileu, with 18 villages, the first Sisters ever assigned to that parish. Slowly they got to know the people and their language and the many basic needs as they began their pastoral work.

As Sister Susan learned of the many people unable to walk, she and other trained technicians opened a shop for making special shoes and braces, run a profit-sharing basis among the workers.

In 1999, the Maryknoll Sisters had to evacuate East Timor and boarded the last plane to Australia.  While in Australia for six weeks, the Sisters worked with Timorese refugees. When the Sisters returned to Aileu, they found that the shop for shoes and braces, the community based clinic, the school, and their home were destroyed. Their comment: “We were exactly where we had started out with, nothing.”

When Sister Susan returned to East Timor from the States, she had a 20 hour plane ride to Australia. Probably as a result of that very long flight Sister Sue suffered aneurisms that resulted in extensive debilitation and only after months of physical therapy was she able to return to East Timor.

With help from friends in the States, Sister Sue started to rebuild the shop for aiding those with special needs for shoes and braces.

Sister Rosemary McCormack, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rosemary McCormack entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from Long Island City, New York in 1957. In 1962 she was a star on a TV puppet show for children featured in the NY Archdiocese. This popular show, “Let’s Talk About God,” was taped for other dioceses and also shown in the Philippines.

She studied for two years at Mary Rogers College, Maryknoll, NY and received her B.A. in Sociology from St. Catherine’s, St. Paul, MN in 1967. That same year she was assigned to the Bolivia/Peru Region and studied Spanish in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

In 1968, Sister Rosemary began her commitment to Peru in two areas on the southern outskirts of Lima, Ciudad de Dios and Pamplona Alta. Her work involved her as a social worker and pastoral worker in community development. In 1980, a turbulent time of violence in Peru, Sister Rosemary was elected full time Coordinator of the Maryknoll Sisters in the Peru Region and traveled throughout the country. On completing her term, Sister Rosemary returned to Ciudad de Dios to work in a day care center.

From 1985-1989 Sister Rosemary returned to NY for mission education and promotion work. Her TV talents were highlighted once again when Maryknoll’s Social Communication Dept. produced 13 videotaped programs for use at home as well as by parishes and school groups. Entitled “Common Table”, the programs covered such topics as hunger and peace. Co-hosts, Maryknollers Father Donald Doherty and Sister Rosemary, interviewed missioners and other experts.

In 1991, Sister Rosemary received her M.A. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Fordham University, NY in Religious Education and remained in NY for family ministry until June, 1999.

In 1999, Sister Rosemary returned to Peru and presently works in a parish in Pamplona Alta in the diocese of Lurin, created about eight years ago. She is involved in a family Catechetical Program in which parents meet once a week for two years in small groups to deepen their faith and learn how to prepare their children to receive the sacraments. Sister Rosemary meets with leader couples of the small groups and together they prepare the weekly meetings. The final goal of the program is to form Basic Christian Communities in which the people can reflect on their lives in the light of the Gospel and support each other in their efforts to transform society.

By profession Sister Rosemary is a Social Worker and helps a limited number of people who come to her with their problems. Often they just need someone to talk to, but when needed Sister Rosemary also refers them to organizations that can offer the services they need.

Sister Rosemary is a member of the National Conference of Religious Human Rights Commission. In the diocese of Lurin she works on the local level with the Commission on Human Dignity which gives workshops related to Justice and Peace.

Sister Rita Keegan, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rita Keegan’s good humor, optimism and “can do” spirit and her gifts of personal rapport and group facilitation have marked her leadership in the Maryknoll Congregation and in all her ministries in the U.S. and Bolivia.

Sister Rita lives in an economically depressed area in Oregon. She is a counselor/therapist at Four rivers Free Clinic and in the State Correctional Facility with individuals and groups in the infirmary for the severely mentally ill. Her work in Head Start is with Spanish-speaking families, mostly mothers and children individulally and in groups. She was a volunteer on the board of the Alcohol Recovery Center and continues as a sponsor for several in the AA Twelve Step Program. She collaborates on retreat events, mostly in the AA program. She also has private clients for counseling/spiritual direction.

Sister Rita hails from Richland Center, WI, and entered Maryknoll in 1957. Her first assignment was in the South Bronx, NY, where she taught at St. Anthony’s School. After five years, she was sent to Bolivia where she taught and later worked in a resettlement project in the jungle where several thousand peole were  forced from their homes by floods. In what had been nothing but forest and jungle, she helped inaugurate two colonies, Hardeman and Piray, a pastoral and community project sponsored by the joint efforts  of Catholic, Methodist and Mennonite churches administering an orientation program for the new colonists, mostly indigenous people. After 12 years, she moved from the jungle to charamoco in the mountainous area around Cochabamba and was part of a pastoral team who ministered to 36 small villages of Quechua Indians. Integration of community and human development were their priorities.

She served for three years as Congregational Personnel Director and on her regional leadership teams several times, as well as facilitating meetings for other regions and groups.

Sister Rachel Kunkler, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rachel Kunkler with a group of youth in Tanzania who named themselves “Chapa Kazi” which literally means “Hard Work.” Another free translation would be “hit the deck” or “get the job done!”

For the past forty-three years Sister Rachel has lived in Tanzania, East Africa. She is definitely a multi-task person and presently, along with Sister Noreen McCarthy, is a consultant for women and youth groups in rural and urban Iringa Region where they arrived almost twenty years ago and initiated the “Chapa Kazi” group. Presently the Sisters are consultants for women and youth groups on alternative energy – solar lighting and windmill water pumps; business and marketing skills for economic projects. They do HIV/AIDS counseling and prepare young, economically poor women for secondary and post secondary education, which includes tutoring, getting scholarships, and keeping contact while they are away at school.

It is easy to understand why in 1995, the President of Tanzania honored the Sisters with an award issued by the Ministry of Labour and Youth Development for their work in the Iringa Region. They had worked with seven groups in four districts.

Their original Chapa Kazi group eventually built eight houses for themselves plus a kindergarten and day care center. They also sent a young woman away to study and how to teach in their kindergarten. These young people are a mixture of religions, Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim as well as a mixture of tribes, Wabena and Wakinga. Sister Rachel said, “They kept reminding us that we had once mentioned solar lighting….they work hard and they keep us working hard!”

Sister Rachel entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957 from Loogootee, Indiana. She was in pre-medical studies in St. Mary of the Woods College. In Maryknoll, Sister Rachel finished those studies at  Mt .St. Vincent’s earning a B.S. in Biology. After language study in Tanzania, Sister Rachel taught biology, chemistry and other subjects for nine years in three secondary schools. When her students were coming back to teach, Sister Rachel changed her teaching to lay leadership training for small Christian communities in the Arusha diocese. For twelve years the Sisters visited all the parishes and over two thousand leaders were trained in the Center. At the same time they had a small farm with ten young people working in animal husbandry which helped make the Center self-reliant. They were able to turn this Center over to Tanzanian Sisters from Kilimanjaro and respond to the government invitation to work in the Iringa Region.

Sister Rachel was a delegate to four General Assemblies of the Maryknoll Sisters as well as serving full time one year as the Regional Research and Planning Coordinator for the Tanzania Maryknoll Sisters. In 2008 she celebrated her Golden Jubilee, fifty years of giving her life for others, stretching her imagination and talent to meet urgent needs in mission.

Sisters Rachel and Noreen take their turns staffing the house of hospitality in Nairobi, Kenya for Maryknoll Sisters in Africa for retreats, meetings, medical care, etc. However, they will be in daily contact by cell phone with the folks in Iringa and will go back every two months for a week or so.