Four communities celebrate jubilees
Sisters of Mercy
70 YEARS
Sister Mary Edith Hurley, a San Francisco native, entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1939 after graduating from St. Peter’s Academy. Her ministry has been devoted to elementary school teaching at schools throughout the Archdiocese including Holy Name of Jesus, St. Peter’s, St. Stephen’s, and St. Gabriel School in San Francisco; St. Bartholomew’s in San Mateo, and St. Catherine of Siena and Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame.
60 YEARS
Sister Barbara Cavanaugh entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1949 later graduating from St. Mary’s College of Nursing. Sister Barbara moved to the Altiplano of Peru in 1964 staying for 31 years, as a nurse, midwife and supervisor of formation programs for young women. She has ministered through Healing Touch since 1995.
Sister Mary Ann Scofield entered the Sisters of Mercy community in 1949 later earning a Ph.D. in theology from St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame. In 1989 she helped begin Spiritual Directors International while creating a program in spiritual direction at Mercy Center, the first on the West Coast.
50 YEARS
Sister Lucy Calvillo attended elementary and high school at St. Peter’s in San Francisco, entering the Sisters of Mercy in 1959. She has been a devoted first grade teacher at St. Peter’s since 1986.
Sister Joan Clarke entered the Mercy community in Burlingame in 1959. A high school teacher, she earned graduate degree in psychology in 1974. Two years ago she came to Marian Convent in Burlingame.
Sister Ellen FitzGerald entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959 and taught writing and literature, at the University of San Francisco and at her alma mater Mercy High School in San Francisco where she was a member of the first graduating class. She holds a post-graduate degree in English from Notre Dame University.
Sister Helen Gilsdorf directed the Mercy School of Music in the 1960s and then was a music teacher at St. Peter’s and St. Gabriel’s Schools in San Francisco and had a variety of roles at Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame and other schools.
Sister Maureen Hally, a native of San Francisco, attended Mercy High School in San Francisco. She was justice coordinator for the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy and the Western Region from 1995 to 1999. She is currently a volunteer at Coyote Point Junior Museum and tutor for elementary school children.
Sister Anna Marie Law entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959. An elementary school teacher, she received her M.A. afrom University of San Francisco. She is a former supervisor of teachers in the credential program at Loyola Marymount University.
Sister Mary Janet Rozzano is a graduate of St. Gabriel’s School and Mercy High School San Francisco as well as a teacher and former principal of Mercy High School Burlingame. Holding a graduate degree in gerontology, she served as chaplain at Mercy Retirement and Care Center for 16 years and became Spiritual Care Coordinator at Marian Care Center in Burlingame in 2008.
Sister Clare Marie Schroer, professed in 1959 and was a preschool teacher at St. Matthias Day Center in Redwood City for 15 years. She has served as marketing and admissions coordinator at Mercy Retirement and Care Center since 1998.
Sister Pauline Borghello, who entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959, is a graduate of San Francisco’s St. Peter School and Academy earning a graduate degree in educational administration in 1975.She has been principal of St. Gabriel’s School in San Francisco since 1981.
Sister Ritamary Burnham entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959 serving as an elementary teacher, vice principal and principal, from 1963 to 1988. She is currently serving at St Justin the Martyr Parish in the Diocese of San Jose.
Sister Judy Cannon graduated from Mercy High School in San Francisco and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959. After teaching mathematics at Mercy High in Burlingame, she became Director of Social Justice at Catholic Healthcare West from 1987 to 1989. She is currently a member of the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community leadership team based in Omaha, Neb.
Sister Marcia Kinces is a staff nurse at St. Mary’s Medical Center where she has served since 1980. Sister Marcia attended Holy Name School and Mercy High School in San Francisco.
Sister Mary Peter McCusker entered the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame in 1959 and earned an undergraduate degree in nursing at the University of San Francisco where she served as a nursing supervisor and instructor. She served in the Mercy mission in the Altiplano of Peru from 1979 to 1984.
Sister Judy Morasci attended St. Peter’s School and Academy in San Francisco and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959. She attended Russell College with a major in education and in 1998 became regional director of mission services of Catholic Healthcare West of Central California.
Sister Lillian Murphy, a graduate of St. Peter’s School and Academy, entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959, receiving her master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976. She became CEO of Mercy Housing in 1987.
Sister Joan Marie O’Donnell graduated from Mercy High School San Francisco, entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1959 and later earned a graduate degree in secondary education from San Francisco State University. She was regional vice president of mission and organization development of Catholic Healthcare West’s Central Coast region from 1998 to 2001 and currently is chaplain at Alma Via Assisted Living in San Francisco.
Sister Yvette Perrault is senior citizen ministry coordinator at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in North Hollywood. She ministered in Appalachia at the New Foundation in Pocohantas, Virginia from 1988 to 1992.
Sister Ann Rooney, a graduate of Mercy High School in Burlingame, has worked as a marriage, family and child counvselor with an office at the Jesuit Institute for Family Life in Burlingame since 1988. Hard of hearing since childhood, she is a hearing loss specialist and has been co-president of the Peninsula Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.
Golden Jubilee Reflections
When I made final vows as a Sister of Mercy, I chose “Led by the Spirit” as the inscription on the ring I received. Over my 50 years in the community, I’ve come to recognize so many Spirit-led moments when I was drawn to a particular ministry, to a use of talents I hardly knew existed in me, to words or actions that in spite of my limitations proved helpful or healing to another person.
Over five decades, through ministries in education, community governance, and spiritual care of older adults, through times of joyful light, dark uncertainty and loss, through major changes in our religious community, Church and world, my relationship with God has changed and, I hope, grown stronger. I find I have fewer “answers” about God but that I have a deeper trust, born of experience, that God, “the Mysterious One who is always with me,” is indeed faithful. One translation of Psalm 16: 8 says, “I am sure God is here right beside me.” God HAS been here—in my sisters, in those I have served and ministered with and in so many other wonderful ways. I am full of gratitude for the gifts of these 50 years!
– Sister Janet Rozzano, RSM
Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
The Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose celebrated anniversaries of religious profession of 14 Sisters with a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Joseph Church in Fremont June 24. Retired Oakland Bishop Emeritus John S. Cummins was principal celebrant.
During the Mass, the Sisters renewed their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to Sister Gloria Marie Jones, Congregational Prioress.
Sister Jean Marie Des Jardins celebrated 70 years of religious profession, while Sisters Antonia Leber and Veronica Lonergan marked 60 years. Sisters Mary Liam Brock, Mara Anne Palomares, Brigid Bray, Jeanne Harris and Cecilia Soberon celebrated 50 years, and Sisters Madeline Marie Nabonne, Mary Ybarra and Luz Maria Quintero Reyes celebrated 25 years. The total number of years given to the Church by all the jubilarians is 705.
Three sisters from Germany, Sisters Ludovika Sewald, and Mechtildis Okos who celebrated 70 years, and Sister Bernadette Huber, 50 years, were unable to attend the celebration in Fremont, but they were warmly remembered by their sisters and friends.
Following the liturgy the jubilarians and 600 guests celebrated at the Motherhouse.
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael celebrated Jubilee on Saturday, July 25 with Mass at St. Raphael Church and a reception with family and friends at the Dominican Sisters Center. Together the group represents over 800 years of religious life and ministry. Front from left: Sister Anselm Beardsley, OP - 80 years, Sister Victoria Commins, OP - 60 years, Sister Jeremy Carmody, OP - 60 years, Sister Alicia Lechner, OP - 70 years, Sister Petronilla Davis, OP - 60 years, Sister Carolyn Wagner, OP - 60 years. Back from left: Sister Patricia Lyons, OP - 70 years, Sister Abby Newton, OP - 25 years, Sister Darylynn Costa, OP - 25 years, Sister Marion Irvine, OP - 60 years, Sister Ruth Droege, OP - 50 years, Sister Anne Dolan, OP - 50 years, Sister Patricia Simpson, OP - 50 years, Sister Anne Bertain, OP - 50 years, Sister Patricia Boss, OP - 40 years.
Sister Mary Ann Shea, BVM, celebrates 75th
Sister Mary Ann Shea (Agnes Corneille), a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, entered religious life in 1934. She taught music at St Paul Elementary School from 1940-42, at Most Holy Redeemer from 1969-79 and at St Thomas More from 1979-81. She will be honored in September in rites at Mount Carmel Motherhouse Chapel, in Dubuque, Iowa.
