Sister Mary Ellen Kempken
Current Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center-Maryknoll, NY
Sister Mary Ellen was born August 7th, 1952 in Hartford, WI to Helen R. (Boos) Kempken and Elmer P. Kempken. She has 1 sister and a twin brother. Sister Mary Ellen graduated from Hartford Union High School, Hartford, WI in 1970. She graduated from Marian College (now University)of Fond du Lac, WI, with a B.S. in nursing in 1974. Following a year of nursing service at St .Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, Sister Mary Ellen entered the Congregation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY on August 26th, 1975. She pronounced First Vows at the Sisters Center on June 5th, 1977 and Final Vows March 10th, 1986 in Bolivia. After her entrance, Sister Mary Ellen attended classes at the Maryknoll Seminary where she studied the Scriptures, ethics and international affairs, later earning an M.A. in Christian Heritage from the Maryknoll School of Theology in 1985.
Sister Mary Ellen’s first mission assignment was to Bolivia in 1977 where she served for over 30 years, first working with the Cristo Rey Parish Mothers Club operating a well baby program from 1978-1979, then working at the Caritas Diocesan Office where she again worked with the Mother-Child Clubs of the diocese while continuing to work with two local clubs, from 1979-1980.
She later became involved with a project assisting the people of the Altiplano in La Paz in 1980. After a year at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York, Sister Mary Ellen returned to Bolivia where she served as administrator/head nurse at the Saavedra Hospital from 1981-1984. During that time, she also did pastoral work at St. John the Baptist Parish in Saavedra, Santa Cruz. Following a Year of Reflection at the Sisters Center, Sister Mary Ellen again returned to Bolivia, and did parish work at the Capinota Parish in the mountains of the Cochabamba area from 1986-1991.
In 1991 she returned to NY, and from 1992-94, she worked in Mission Promotion for the Maryknoll Sisters and in the Maryknoll Mission Archives. She then returned once again to Bolivia in 1995 and served for 16 years in the Amazon Region of the country. In the rural city of Riberalta, Beni Sister Mary Ellen worked with Community Animators of the Faith through the Rural Pastoral Institute River Team of the Vicariate of the Pando and later, with children with special needs at the New Horizons Center in Riberalta. She also walked with musicians and Eucharistic Ministers at Our Lady of Carmen Parish in Riberalta before leaving Bolivia in 2011.
Sister Mary Ellen was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2011 in the Communication Department where she served in the ministry of Mission Education for Maryknoll Sisters. This means she got out and about quite a lot, introducing many people to Maryknoll Sisters, whether at a professional gathering of catechists in California, a national youth rally in some major city, or writing about us for mission-minded parishioners affiliated with the Just Faith organization.
Following her ministry in Mission Education she served as a Co-coordinator of the Sister’s Center Community for several years and now serves as choir and music director at the Center.