Sister Margaret (Peg) Sehlstedt
Current ministry location – Center NY
Margaret (Peg) Sehlstedt was born March 21, 1926 in Baltimore, MD to Elizabeth (Renehan) Sehlstedt and Albert Sehlstedt. She had 2 sisters: Nancy and Betty and 1 brother: Albert. Peg graduated from De Sales High School, Baltimore, MD in 1944.
Margaret (Peg) Sehlstedt joined the Maryknoll Sisters at the Sisters’ Center in NY from Baltimore, MD on September 6, 1944. She professed First Vows March 7, 1945 at the Center and Final Vows March 7, 1950 also at the Center. She earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Rogers College in 1954 from Mary Rogers College at the Center.
Sister Peg received her first overseas mission assignment to Japan in 1951 and in preparation, began a year’s study of Japanese at the Institute of Far Eastern Languages at Yale University in New Haven, CT. After 2 years, she received a Certificate in the Japanese Language from Yale.
Sister Margaret had always wanted to go to Japan, and after language study, she fulfilled another wish to do pastoral work in both Kyoto and Muroran, Hokkaido, as well as other places. In an impoverished neighborhood in Kyoto, Sister Margaret worked at Hope House, a project of collaboration between the diocese and the city for helping people find their own solutions to their problems. As an English instructor at Sophia University in Tokyo, Sister Peg enjoyed friendships with the students as together they formed Christian community on campus. She served in Japan for almost three decades.
On returning (1973 to 1975) to the United States, Sister Margaret offered mission education as well as other congregational services at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and found time for peace and justice activities working with Clergy and Laity Concerned and as a member of Network in Washington, D.C.
Sister Peg prepared for a new ministry when in 1986 to 2000, she earned a Certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education from Central Islip Psych Hospital, Central Islip, NY. Sister Peg found her years as chaplain at Providence Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, equally satisfying as a missioner as were her years in Japan.
In 2012, Sister Maggie retired to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York.