Maryknoll Sisters

Ossining, N.Y., July 17, 2026 ── Sister Roseann Hanley, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 76 years known for her love of the arts and dedicated service to youth, died on July 6, 2026. She was 98.

Sr. Roseann was born in Richmond Hill, Va., on June 23, 1928, to Joseph T. and Agnes O’Hare Hanley. She is predeceased by two sisters, Joan and Agnes, and one brother, Joseph.

Sr. Roseann graduated from Richmond Hill High School in 1947, and attended an eight-month course at Delehanty Business School in Jamaica, Queens. She then worked at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York, N.Y., for two and a half years, before entering the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation on Sept. 6, 1950. Sr. Roseann made her first vows on March 7, 1953, and final vows on March 7,1959.

In 1958, Sr. Roseann received her Bachelor of Education from the Maryknoll Teachers College in Maryknoll, N.Y. That same year, she was assigned to Hawaii and taught second grade at St. Michael’s School in Waialua until 1963. In her next assignment Sr. Roseann was called to Chile for the next 43 years. After studying language in Pucon and a year of pastoral work in San Alberto Parish of Santiago, she began service as a member of the parish pastoral team in Licanten until 1983. Sr. Roseann returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y., to serve on the Congregational Leadership Team, work in the Treasury Department and as supervisor of the mail desk from 1984 until 1987.

Returning to Chile at this time, Sr. Roseann resumed her pastoral work in the town of Rauco until 2003 followed by three more years of pastoral service in Curico, until 2006.

Throughout her decades of service, Sr. Roseann found joy in collaborating with lay missioners and youth in many ways. Talented in art and music, she led craft workshops, formed church choral groups and once led a mixed group of Boy and Girl Scouts. She also created artwork and ceramic pieces that are still displayed in places throughout the Center today.

Sr. Roseann returned to the Center in 2006 and remained an active retiree in service to her Sister community, including a term as part of the Coordinators’ Team, until her passing. The Maryknoll Sisters would like to thank Sr. Roseann for her decades of dedicated service to our One Earth Community.

A wake for Sr. Roseann was held on July 15, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A memorial Mass was said for Sr. Roseann on July 16, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.

Ossining, N.Y., July 10, 2026 ── Sister Marian Teresa Dury, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 73 years with unwavering faith and generosity, died on July 1, 2026. She was 105.

Sr. Marian was born on December 24, 1920, in New Bedford, Mass., to Ann Flynn Dury and Thomas Dury. She had two brothers and one sister, all of whom predeceased her.

In 1938, Sr. Marian graduated from Holy Family High School and began studying at Seton Hill College in Greensville, Pa., where she would earn a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1942. She went on to complete a Master of Nursing degree at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in 1945.

Sr. Marian worked as a staff nurse in the Army Nurse Corps of the United States from 1945 to 1946, travelling between Korea and the Philippines on a hospital ship. In 1946, she worked as a nurse and clinical instructor at Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Mass., for two years. This experience inspired her to continue her education, earning a Master of Science in nursing education from the Catholic University of America in 1949. She then taught as an associate professor of nursing at the Catholic University of America, Louisiana State University and Boston College. Sr. Marian later received a certificate in midwifery at the General Nursing Council of England and Wales in 1968. During her time in Boston, Sr. Marian discovered the opening of a Maryknoll Sisters novitiate in Topsfield, Mass., where she entered on September 2, 1953. She made her first vows on March 7, 1956, and final vows on the same date in 1962.

In 1956, Sr. Marian was assigned her first mission, where she worked with women in Tanzania. She was one of the founders of its first secondary school for girls, Marian College, which offered a well-rounded education and a variety of extracurricular clubs. After overseeing the school for a decade, Sr. Marian returned to the United States for renewal and to work in fundraising at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. Upon her return to Tanzania in 1970, Sr. Marian began a new ministry with the Buhangija, Shinyanga Diocese as the administrator and midwife at the Mary Mahoney Dispensary and Clinic. She worked with sisters and staff to treat 250 patients on average each day, administering a 12-bed antenatal clinic, a 12-bed maternity clinic, as well as mobile maternal and child health clinics that served nine different villages.

After serving as head nurse and administrator in the Center’s infirmary from 1973 until 1976, Sr. Marian returned to Tanzania as part of the Medical Missionary of Mary Sisters. There, she shifted her focus to community health, training health workers as the maternal and child health coordinator of the Hanang Village Health Project. From 1981 until 1991, she served as regional coordinator of the Tanzanian Region, Coordinator of the Maryknoll Sisters World Section House in Nairobi, Kenya, and as a staff member of the VEMA Health Project in Kalebejo, Tanzania.

Sr. Marian returned to the Center in 1991 to serve in the Communications Department for two years, before being appointed as co-coordinator of the Main House Council, where she served for six years as a welcoming and dedicated presence to her Sister community.

She returned to Tanzania for a final time in 2000, teaching English to young women. Sr. Marian was awarded the Seton Hill College Distinguished Alumna Leadership Award in 2002, which described her as, “an educator and missionary, and woman of determination and unwavering faith.”

The Maryknoll Sisters would like to thank Sr. Marian for her decades of generosity and loving service to our One Earth Community.

A wake for Sr. Marian was held on July 6, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A Mass of Resurrection was said for Sr. Marian on July 7, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.

Ossining, N.Y., June 30, 2026 ── Sister Rosemary Kane, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 80 years known for her sense of humor and generosity, died on June 18, 2026. She was 99.

Sr. Rosemary was born on June 15, 1927, to Katharine M. (Feurer) and Francis W. Kane, in New York City, N.Y. She is predeceased by two brothers — Francis Thomas Kane and Maryknoll Father Joseph R. Kane, M.M. — and one sister, Loretta Tum Suden.

In 1945, Sr. Rosemary graduated from St. Agnes High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, before dancing as a Rockette at the Radio City Music Hall. Sr. Rosemary then entered Maryknoll from the St. Agnes Cathedral Parish at Rockville Center on October 5, 1946. She professed her first vows in 1949, and final vows on April 6, 1952.

Sr. Rosemary’s first mission brought her to Maui, Hawaii, where she taught primary school students for one year. She then taught primary and secondary school students on the Island of Oahu for the next nine years, before returning to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y., to work in Mission Promotion in 1959. During this time, Sr. Rosemary studied at Maryknoll Teachers College and completed a Bachelor of Science in education in 1963.

She then served at St. Anthony of Padua Primary School in the South Bronx, N.Y., as principal, sixth-grade teacher and house superior. Sr. Rosemary also attended leadership classes at Hunter College and Fordham University and studied Spanish at the Maryknoll Language Institute in Cochabamba.

In 1967, Sr. Rosemary’s began her next mission in Riberalta, Bolivia, conducting home visits in villages along the Beni River and preparing their people for Mass and sacraments. She and a Maryknoll priest co-founded Radio San Miguel in 1968, which served as the main source of communication, education and entertainment for the people of Riberalta. The station offered literacy programs and helped emphasize the needs of communities who had been geographically isolated by the jungle and rivers, through its programs on health, religion and recordings of community meetings.

After studying telecommunications at Indiana University’s Communication Department for two years, Sr. Rosemary returned to Bolivia in1979 to work with Radio San Rafael in Cochabamba, offering her expertise through 2013. She also served as the full-time communications manager of the Catholic archdiocesan radio station for 18 years, until 2002.

Sr. Rosemary then pursued other ministries, serving on the Board of Directors of the Archdiocesan Institute of the Blind from 2007 until 2008, and collaborating with the Santa Ana Parish Secondary School (formerly Maryknoll High School) religious formation team from 2008 until 2015. During that time, she also provided private English classes to students and directed the students’ year-end English Festival plays.

Sr. Rosemary returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2016, where she remained until her passing. The Maryknoll Sisters would like to thank Sr. Rosemary for her sense of humor and desire to reach out to others in her years of dedicated service to our One Earth Community.

A wake for Sr. Rosemary was held on June 25, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A Mass of Resurrection was said for Sr. Rosemary on June 26, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.

Ossining, N.Y., June 30, 2026 ── Sister Mary Ann Duffy, M.M., a Maryknoll Sister of 78 years known for her intellect, curiosity and wit, died on June 5, 2026. She was 95.

Sr. Mary was born on November 11, 1930, to James and Mary Brennan Duffy in Philadelphia, Pa. She is predeceased by four of her siblings, and survived by her sister, Cass Begley.

In 1948, Sr. Mary graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School. In September of that year, she entered the Maryknoll Congregation at the Maryknoll Sister Center in Ossining, N.Y. Sr. Mary pronounced first vows on March 7,1951, and final vows on the same date in 1954. She would go on to complete her bachelor’s degree in education at the Maryknoll Teachers College in 1956 and a Master of Arts in Spanish literature at Temple University in 1968.

Sr. Mary was called to Merida, Mexico, for her first mission in 1956. She taught there until 1968, when she was transferred to Puebla, Mexico. During her time in Mexico, Sr. Mary mastered the Indian dialect of the Tzeltal people and developed an experimental system of basic education for them, while providing pastoral care. She served in rural community development across Mexico, as well.

In 1985, Sr. Mary joined Sr. Judy Noone to serve the Maya Quiche people, whose lives had been devastated by military violence. Together, they worked with widows to build community vegetable gardens and contribute to reforestation efforts.

After completing a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in 1995, Sr. Mary was assigned to Nicaragua, where she served for two years before working in Mission Promotion. A believer in justice and peace, Sr. Mary then began Congressional Service as a social concerns coordinator.

In her next assignment, Sr. Mary worked as a pastoral agent in Central Guatemala’s San Juan Sacatepequez and Ciudad Queztal, before moving to Centro Pastoral Red DeVida of Darien, Panama, from 2012 until 2016.

Sr. Mary returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in 2016, where she was a valued member in service to her Sister community until her passing.

The Maryknoll Sisters would like to thank Sr. Mary for her years of dedicated service to our One Earth Community.

A wake for Sr. Mary was held on June 10, 2026, in the Annunciation Chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, N.Y. A Mass of Resurrection was said for Sr. Mary on June 11, 2026, also in the Annunciation Chapel.