Sister Isabel Rabbon

Current Ministry Location – Hawaii

Isabel Rabbon was born June 17, 1933 in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii to Irene (Ragsag) and Dionisio Rabang Rabbon. She had two sisters: Rufina and Socorro, and one brother, John. Isabel graduated from St. Anthony’s High School, Wailuku, HI in 1951. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Marymount College, Selina, Kansas in 1954 then taught for two years.

Isabel entered the Maryknoll Sisters September 2, 1956 at the Center in New York. She pronounced First Vows at the Center on June 24, 1959 and Final Vows June 24, 1965 in Chile. Sister Isabel’s first mission assignment was to teach at St. Anthony’s School in the south Bronx, NY from 1959 to 1963. In 1960 she studied Spanish at the University of Puerto Rico and in 1961 earned a Certificate in Spanish from Iona College, New Rochelle, NY

Her first overseas mission assignment was to Chile in 1963. Sister Isabel went to Buzeta on the outskirts of Santiago and to Talcahuano where she did Parish Pastoral Ministry until 1974.

In 1974, Sister Isabel was assigned to the United States to be a member of the Admissions Team working on the West Coast for four years. In 1979, she was assigned to Hawaii and worked at Kaunakakai, Molokai as the Pastoral Associate for St. Sophia Parish for eleven years. Moving to Lanai City, Lanai, Sister Isabel continued as a Pastoral Associate at the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish until 1995. Then she was assigned to return to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY to be a member of the Admissions Team from 1995 until 1999.

Assigned bact to Hawaii in 2000, Sister Isabel continued as a retiree doing volunteer ministries at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Kailua. She also volunteered at the Kaneohe State Mental Hospital and helped the Protestant Chaplain in teaching Scripture to inmates, mostly men. Sister Isabel is also a Coordinating Team member of the “Returning Catholics Home” program to welcome inactive Catholics back to the faith community at St. Anthony of Padua church, Kailua.