Sister Nora Maulawin
Current Ministry Location – Baguio, Philippines
Nora Maulawin was born September 5, 1936 in Manila, Philippines to Agapita (Acal) Maulawin and Pelagio Dalena Maulawin. She had 3 sisters: Marina, Belen Emma and Heidi and 4 brothers: Arnamdo, Floro, Generoso and Engilberto. Nora graduated from Manila High School, Manila in 1952. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from the University of the Philippines, Manila and a Certificate from the Catechetical Institute, Manila both in 1957.
Nora entered the Maryknoll Sisters novitiate in Manila June 2, 1965. She professed First Vows April 30, 1968 in Manila and Final Vows September 5, 1971 also in the Philippines. Sister Nora’s first assignment in 1968 – 1979 was in the Philippines where she taught adult education and high school religion. In 1972 she was assigned to Indonesia to begin what was a new commitment of the Maryknoll Sisters.
In Bandung, Indonesia, Sister Nora chaired the Bandung Catechetical Commission, supervised diocesan catechists, lectured in the Bandung seminary, and found time to teach religion in junior public high school.
In 1991, Sister Nora was among the first five Maryknoll Sisters to arrive in East Timor, which at the time was a part of Indonesia. They had spent many years in Indonesia, when Bishop Belo, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize, asked them to work in Aileu, a rural community in the mountains of East Timor.
In the island country, Sister Nora did pastoral ministry and parish administration, visited villages, supervised the lay catechists “empowering them to be able to lead the people to deeper faith life, and taught in the government high school.” In September, 1999, the “Popular Consultation results were an overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia but within half an hour, after the results were on the radio, the Sisters witnessed burnings everywhere and were advised to leave. They took the last Australian Hercules to Darwin where they joined a ministry team to help the Timorese who also managed to escape.
When they returned to Aileu in November, they faced the same fate as the people. The Indonesian army troops and paramilitary had burned their convent and clinic to the ground. They worked with The People For Reconciliation and Peace during the rebuilding. Sister Nora was a member of the new national commission on civil education and human rights curriculum for high schools.
After three years (2007 – 2010) back in the USA at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY as a creative writer in the Sisters’ Development Department, Sister Nora returned to the Philippines for family ministry, before returning to East Timor.
In 2013 she transferred from East Timor to the Philippines where she serves at the Peace and Integrity of Creation Ecological Sanctuary, a project founded by the Maryknoll Sisters in Baguio City.