Current Ministry Location: Lynn, MA and Ozamiz City, Philippines
Sister Loretta was born in North Conway, NH, July 21st, 1938 to Mary (Burke) and Paul R. Harriman; she had one brother.. She graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Lynn in 1956 and joined the Congregation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY from St. Mary’s Parish, Lynn, on September 2nd, the same year. She pronounced her First Vows June 24th, 1959 and her Final Vows the same day in 1965 both at the Sisters Center.
From 1959-1961, she worked at the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers. Then, following completion of a B.S. in Education at Maryknoll Teachers College in 1965, she was assigned to the Philippines.
Sister Loretta began as a teacher of elementary school students at Maryknoll Grade School, part of Maryknoll College, in Manila. She was then assigned to serve as principal of Maryknoll High School in Lupon, Davao Oriental, Mindanao, where she also taught religion, history and geography, until 1976. Then, she returned to the United States, where she earned an M.A. in Systematic Theology from Boston College in 1979.
Returning to the Philippines in 1979, she taught at the Regional Major Seminary in Davao City for three years and then at the Ateneo de Davao, where, among other tasks, she helped establish a graduate program in theology for religion teachers on the island of Mindanao and served as a live-in residence moderator. She also worked in various formation programs in and around Davao City until 1989.
Back in the States in 1989, Sister Loretta served as Secretary to the President of the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from 1990-1993, then continued her studies, earning a Master of Arts in Spirituality from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, CA in 1997.
She returned to the Philippines, where she taught for two years at the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies in Quezon City.
Having returned again to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY Sister Loretta was appointed Director of Congregational Vocation Ministry in 2000, a position she held until 2005. At present she says, she “lives in two worlds,” volunteering as a receptionist and ESL teacher with Catholic Charities North, Lynn, MA, and teaching theology for three months each year at St. Mary’s Theologate in Ozamiz City, Philippines.