As I look back on my 65 years as a School Sister of Notre Dame, I have witnessed many changes in the world, as well as in SSND. Born in Rochester, New York, I entered the Congregation of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, taking my final vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience in 1969. I began my teaching career at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Camden, New Jersey in 1953, where I taught the third grade.
After a year in the Novitiate in Baltimore, Maryland, I was missioned to St. Leo’s in Irvington, New Jersey, where I taught grades 1,2,3,4, and 6. After nine years, I returned to my hometown to teach 8th grade at St. Margaret Mary’s in Irondequoit. In 1964, I came to Bishop Kearney High School to teach English and Religion. Four years later, I became Principal at St. Margaret Mary’s, where I sent many students to Bishop Kearney during my six years there. In 1974, I asked to teach again at BK, where I continued to teach five classes of English and Religion.
Many years have passed, and now, in 2018, at the age of 86, I continue to minister at Bishop Kearney High School as Campus Minister. As the only SSND in the school today, and having served almost 50 years here, I am blessed to witness the transformation that has taken place at Kearney. Student, from around the world are welcomed to be a part of the BK family. BK’s International program brings students from China, South Korea, Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Peru.
Some of them live with host families here in Rochester and some live in our newly renovated residential hall above the school, along with the Selects Academy, which brings elite youth Hockey players (40 of them) from around the world to live and attend BK while competing in the country’s highest level of girls’ hockey.
My life here at BK has come full circle—from 1964 to 2018. The changes I have witnessed over the years have served to deepen my life as a religious, as well as a School Sister of Notre Dame.
