Current Ministry Location: Eastern U.S. Region
Sister Patricia was born in the Bronx, NY on February 15th, 1933 to Rose (O’Rourke) Gallogly and Joseph Gallogly. She had 2 sisters. Patricia ‘Pat’ graduated from St. Simon Stock High School in the Bronx in 1950. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters in Ossining, NY in 1951. During the novitiate, Sister Pat served in the Promotion Office of the Sisters Development Department and at the Field Afar Magazine on the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers campus from 1954 –1956. She pronounced her First Vows in NY in 1954 and her Final Vows in NY in 1960. In 1956 she began studies at Maryknoll Sisters’ Rogers College where she earned a Bachelor of Education Degree in 1960.
Sister Pat’s first overseas assignment was to east Africa in 1960, teaching for six years in Tanzania and four in Kenya. From 1960 to 1970, Sister Pat taught both at primary and secondary levels in Musoma, Makoko, Tanzania. From 1971–1974 she taught secondary students in Machakos, Kenya.
Returning to the States in 1975, Sister Pat was appointed to a 4 year term as Orientation Director of women entering the Maryknoll Sisters with whom she shared her wisdom and experiences of mission and community.
Returning to Tanzania in 1979 Sister Pat left the classroom for village living, farming and entering into the daily routine of rural life. In pastoral and community development work in Bunda, Sister Pat reached hundreds of rural women through education programs of primary health care, natural family planning and sewing skills. Her varied ministries enhanced the quality of life and health for grassroots women and their families. In Mwanza, Sister Pat worked with a team in an AIDS Outreach Centre where men and women received counseling and were helped to be tested for HIV and follow-up support. They also had a program for children orphaned by AIDS. As her mission experiences evolved, Sister Pat reflected, “This Jesus I had been proclaiming became so real and alive, touching the very core of my being…”
She returned to the States again in 1988 where she was involved in family ministry as well as other ministries at the Sisters Center in Ossining, NY. Sister Pat was assigned to the Eastern U.S. Region in 2007 and lives in Yonkers, NY. She is the Congregational Representative to Maryknoll Affiliates; to the African Faith and Justice Network; and to Full Circle (the organization of former Maryknoll Sisters.) Sister has gradually relinquished some of her duties and retired while still residing in Yonkers.