Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Marie Corinne Rost, M.M. celebrated her 80^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. Sister Marie Corinne Rost entered Maryknoll in 1937 from her home diocese of the Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City, Missouri. She acquired a Bachelor of Science in Music at Manhattanville College, New York City in 1942. Her first assignment was at San Juan Bautista in Central California where she was a Catechist and Parish Minister from 1942-1943 and her next assignment was at Los Angeles in a Children’s Home from 1943-1945.

Sister Marie Corinne was assigned to Hong Kong in 1946. At Kowloon she taught in the Primary and Secondary Section of Maryknoll Convent School as a piano teacher from 1947-1955 and a Primary School teacher from 1955-1967 where she taught Music, Religion and English. From 1967-1977 she was Principal of the Primary Section. Again she was Supervisor of the same Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon and gave private English and Piano lessons to students from 1977-1983.

Her next assignment was to St. Joseph’s in Hong Kong doing Pastoral Work, specifically religious education from 1986-1991. Later in 1991 she was assigned to Homantin in kowloon, Hong kong, teaching English and engaging herself in a broad program of religious and cultural activity as well as relief work in the teeming resettlement areas of Hong kong until 1995.

After her retirement in 1996, Sister Marie Corinne was assigned to Monrovia, CA by the Congregational Leadership Team. In 2007, she moved from Monrovia to the Maryknoll Sisters Center where her prayer ministry is Sudan, Maryknoll-Mission Education/Promotion.

Sister Mary Elizabeth Keyser, M.M. celebrated her 80^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She was born and raised in St. Matthias Parish, Philadelphia, Sister Mary Elizabeth Keyser has worked in catechetics, as a school principal and religious education instructor during her nearly 80 years as a Maryknoll Sister.

She was initially assigned to catechetical work at the historic San Juan Bautista Mission, San Juan Bautista, CA, from 1943-1947. Then, after two years working at Bethany House, a home for ill and elderly Maryknoll Sisters in Ossining, NY, Sister Mary Elizabeth was sent to Bolivia, where worked as a principal in Riberalta, then Cochabamba, for nearly ten years.

She was then sent to Chile where she taught Grades 3 through 5 in Santiago from 1959-1962, supervised religious education instruction in Talcuhano from 1962-1971, served as Executive Secretary of the Instituto de Catequesis Latino Americano in Santiago, overseeing general administration of programming from 1971-1973, provided a prayer presence, while also serving in pastoral and catechetical ministry at a local parish in El Quisco from 1974-1979, director of the Carmelite House of Prayer, Santiago, from 1979-1984, and finally as coordinator for the Center House of the Chile Region, also in Santiago, from 1990-1992.

She currently lives in retirement at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.

Sister Anita Smith, M.M. celebrated her 70^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Hartford, CT, Anita Smith earned a B.S. degree in Econ./Business Administration from St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford, CT, before entering Maryknoll in 1947. Sister Anita was assigned to Hawaii in 1950 and taught in Wailua and Punahou. She represented the Hawaii Region at the Maryknoll Sisters Chapter of Affairs in 1968.

After earning her M.A. in education administration from Fairfield University, CT, Sister Anita became principal of Maryknoll Elementary School in Honolulu for the next ten years.

Sister Anita then earned an M.A. degree in pastoral ministry from St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford. During her fieldwork, she taught a Confirmation class in a parish and worked in a friendship house in Hartford. Following graduation, she spent a year at Covenant House in New York City.

Returning to Hawaii, she did pastoral work in Kona, on the island of Hawaii, where her ministries varied from alternating chaplaincy with an ecumenical group of ministers to participating in a drug awareness program in the schools and Bible study classes.

In 1990, she served for three years in the office of congregational personnel and lay employees in Maryknoll, NY. Then then joined a community of semi-retired Maryknoll Sisters in Waterbury, CT, where she was employed at Catholic Family Service and later at Trust House, a learning center for the under-privileged in Hartford.

Sister Anita joined the Eastern U.S. Region in 2002 and lives in Marlborough, CT.

Sister Angela, from Donegal, Ireland, entered Maryknoll in 1957. She has an MA in theology from the University of San Francisco.

Sister Angela went to Hawaii in 1968 and taught and coordinated religion programs in two Catholic schools. She also directed retreat programs, coordinated Bread For The World, and served as chairperson of the Hawaii Council of Churches’ Nature division.

In 1978, Sister Angela went to Northern Ireland, where she ministered to people who sought healing at a reconciliation center run by a community of Christians.

After about a year, she returned to Hawaii and the work she had begun at the high school. From Hawaii, she went to Majuro in the Marshall Islands, where she taught in the Catholic high school.

Sister Angela went to Coelemu, Chile, in 1985. She ministered to people who had suffered through years of civil unrest and violence in their country.

In 1996, Sister Angela went to Kenya, where she was involved in pastoral work. She returned to the United States in 2001 and was pastoral agent at St. Barbara’s Parish in Brooklyn, New York. She also worked in the Hispanic RCIA program and ministered to prisoners and their families.

Sister Angela is currently in El Salvador, where she gives direct ministry to prison inmates, many of whom have no family. She serves at some of El Salvador’s largest prisons, helping out with liturgical celebrations, support groups, and individual spiritual direction.

Sister Anne Marie Emdin celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12, 2017. She was born in Utica, New York. She graduated from St. Frances de Sales High School and worked one year in the Industrial Bank of Utica before entering the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1957.

After working in both the Seminary and Maryknoll Sisters kitchens, it was not surprising that Sister Anne Marie Emdin received her B.S. in Dietetics from Fontbonne College, St. Louis, MO in 1967. She did her Dietetics Internship at Milwaukee General Hospital in 1968. In 1970, Sister Anne Marie Emdin was assigned to Hong Kong and studied Cantonese for two years. Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital was blessed to have Sister Anne Marie as Dietician and Purchasing Dept. Supervisor for four years, after which she changed positions to Pastoral Ministry and Public Relations in the busy Out Patient Dept. for five more years.

In 1979, Sister Anne Marie’s deep concern for the elderly began and continues to this day. In the Chinese culture, the elderly have always been treasured. However, refugee housing in crowded Hong Kong was built for the nuclear family, not the extended family, and many grandmothers found themselves in a lonely situation. So, besides her hospital work in 1979, Sister Anne Marie volunteered as a warden at the Helping Hand Temporary Shelter for the Elderly.

In 1982, Sister Anne Marie became Administrator of Caritas Ying Shui Home for the Elderly in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, a hostel designed to serve the elderly who were able to care for themselves. However, Sister Anne Marie took a drug addict whom no one else would accept and an autistic street sleeper with no known identity, whom they named “Po Chun” (Precious Pearl).

From 1988 to 1991, Sister Anne Marie’s administrative talents were used as center coordinator for our large community at Maryknoll, New York.

On her return in 1992, Sister Anne Marie moved to Macau and began, with the Pastor, Father Peter Chung, Our Lady of Fatima Elderly Center for folks who had been relocated from small-village living to high-rise apartments, which uprooted their social way of life. With a subsidy covering 70 people, the center managed to accommodate three times the number of seniors and more. Sister Anne Marie was a director of the elderly center until 2005.

Now, she is a volunteer who gives pedicure and manicure services, takes blood pressure, gives haircuts, and shares in the programs and outings. Since 90 percent of the elderly in her region are not Christian, some prayer and recreation is done with the Universal Buddhist Association.

Sister Ardis Kremer, M.M. celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She is a Southerner from Gulfport, Mississippi. After completing a year of college at St. Mary’s Dominican in New Orleans, she entered Maryknoll in 1957. She was assigned to Hawaii in 1968. At that time, the Marshall Islands were part of the Maryknoll Sisters Hawaiian Region and Sister Ardis’s first experience was in Majuro, an atoll-island in Micronesia. As tourism became an island industry, Sister Ardis helped the Marshallese turn their cultural shell art and weaving toward items attractive to the tourists. She also taught Religious Education to children and adults, and learned the values of their culture.

In Honolulu, Sister Ardis continued to be involved in catechetical and pastoral work. After receiving her LPN from Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, she worked as a nurse in Queen’s Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital.

Since 1975 Sister Ardis’ home has been on the island of Molokai where she has served in Molokai General Hospital and worked with the Dept. of Health of the state of Hawaii. Sister Ardis has worked with adults, teenagers and children in health services. Presently she prays and works with the team that came to continue St. Damien’s mission on Molokai. Besides teaching fourth grade, Sister Ardis has taught Religious Education, high school and elementary for the past twenty years. At Our Lady of Sorrows, east end, Sister Ardis is a Presider at Communion Service when the pastor or deacon is not on the island.

Well known as an animal lover, Sister Ardis has healed more than one four footed creature! She is President of the Molokai Humane Society and assists the veterinarian occasionally when the assistant is unavailable.

Sister Constance Pospisil, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She is a nurse from St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Rockville Centre, N.Y., was assigned to Chile in 1961, where she worked as a clinic nurse and in community-based health education programs until 1982. She then assumed administrative ministry at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York until 1989, after which she was assigned to Brazil.

For four years, Sister Connie worked to help establish a holistic health center for women in the marginated areas of Joao Pessoa, in the state of Paraiba in northeastern Brazil.

Sister Connie joined the Maryknoll Contemplative Community in 2004 and has been part of the Sisters’ prayer presence in Lemoa, Guatemala.

Sister Elizabeth Kato, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Since joining the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation on September 2, 1957, Sister Elizabeth Kato of Hawaii has been continuing to make God’s love visible in her mission country, Japan. She arrived in Kyoto in 1967 and, following her language studies, she was assigned to Yokkaichi in 1968 where she taught at the Maryknoll Girl’s school. Her master of both the English and Japanese language allowed her to teach not only secondary school students but adults, as well.

In 1984, she focused her attention in Tokyo where she supervised a day center for skid row elderly while also teaching English at a Buddhist junior college, at a vocational training school for homeless teenagers, and a nursing school.

With the influx of migrant workers in Japan in 1999, she joined the solidarity  center in the Yokohama Diocese to work at the Philippine Desk. She accompanied migrant women who had been abused by their husbands or partners. She also translated case histories, newsletters and reports from Japanese to English.

Currently, Sister Elizabeth divides her ministries into four groups where each one caters to the needs of the people whom she shares her life with. She is part of Kalakasan, a migrant women empowerment center where she does the administrative, financial and networking tasks and participates in a bicultural children’s program designed for traumatized children who have witnessed their mothers being battered. She finds time to be part of the Oriens Institute for Religious Research publication Japan Mission Journal of which she is a member of the editorial board involved in editing, proofreading and planning for future articles. She also belongs to the Japan Catholic Lay Missionary Movement where she works with the formation team that trains people for overseas mission in Southeast Asia. She concentrates on helping them improve their English Communication skills. A member of the Philippine Center at Maryknoll Tokyo, she does migrant outreach, counseling and visiting migrants at police stations and detention centers, as well as engaging in religious education in Japanese for children of migrant workers who haven’t been able to fit into the regular parish system.

Sister Marcella Hoesl, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She entered Maryknoll in 1957 from her home in Cincinnati, Ohio after graduation from Villa Madonna College (now Thomas More) Covington, KY. Her doctorate in theology is from the Institut Catholique of Paris, France.

Sister Marcella has served in Mexico, Guatemala, southern Sudan and Great Britain. She has taught at Maryknoll School of Theology, was Dean and Head of the Department of Mission at Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, England, an ecumenical consortium, and Assistant Director of the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. She served briefly as pastoral associate at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, Cincinnati before becoming Academic Dean and Professor of Systematic Theology at Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas. This School of Theology has prepared persons of many nationalities for ministry within several cultures, and particularly within the Hispanic community.

Presently, as a retired theology teacher in the Maryknoll Sisters Eastern U.S. Region, she lives in Hamilton, OH, and is a regular reviewer of books for Missiology. Sister Marcella volunteers at St. Raphael’s Social Service Agency in Hamilton, devoted to helping the poor and homeless; facilitator for care-givers with Catholic Charities; and does care-giving for her cousin.

Sister Marilu Townsend, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She is from Keokuk, Iowa, entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957.  After her First Profession, Sister Marilu spent three years at the Center, working in the Records Office and serving as Guest Mistress, before beginning the many dedicated years of study that would prepare her for mission work.

Sister Marilu earned her Bachelor Degree in Chemistry at San Francisco College for Women and then her M.D. at Marquette University.  Sister Marilu worked at an Internship at San Joaquin General Hospital, in California, before completing her Residency in Family Practice.

Sister Marilu went on to a General Surgery Residency, and was appointed the Chief Surgery Resident.

It was at this point that Sister Marilu embarked on her first mission outside the continental U.S. to Hawaii, where she worked with eager dedication for eighteen years as an Emergency Room Physician.

Sister Marilu served for several more years in a San Antonio Emergency Room before retiring from medicine and devoting herself to the full-time care of her elderly parents.  On her father’s death, she continued to oversee her mother’s care, while serving with the St. Vincent de Paul Conference in St. Pius X Parish, San Antonio.

Today, Sister Marilu remains in San Antonio, where she lives out her missionary vocation by making God’s love visible through tireless volunteer work.