Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Rachel Kunkler, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rachel Kunkler with a group of youth in Tanzania who named themselves “Chapa Kazi” which literally means “Hard Work.” Another free translation would be “hit the deck” or “get the job done!”

For the past forty-three years Sister Rachel has lived in Tanzania, East Africa. She is definitely a multi-task person and presently, along with Sister Noreen McCarthy, is a consultant for women and youth groups in rural and urban Iringa Region where they arrived almost twenty years ago and initiated the “Chapa Kazi” group. Presently the Sisters are consultants for women and youth groups on alternative energy – solar lighting and windmill water pumps; business and marketing skills for economic projects. They do HIV/AIDS counseling and prepare young, economically poor women for secondary and post secondary education, which includes tutoring, getting scholarships, and keeping contact while they are away at school.

It is easy to understand why in 1995, the President of Tanzania honored the Sisters with an award issued by the Ministry of Labour and Youth Development for their work in the Iringa Region. They had worked with seven groups in four districts.

Their original Chapa Kazi group eventually built eight houses for themselves plus a kindergarten and day care center. They also sent a young woman away to study and how to teach in their kindergarten. These young people are a mixture of religions, Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim as well as a mixture of tribes, Wabena and Wakinga. Sister Rachel said, “They kept reminding us that we had once mentioned solar lighting….they work hard and they keep us working hard!”

Sister Rachel entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957 from Loogootee, Indiana. She was in pre-medical studies in St. Mary of the Woods College. In Maryknoll, Sister Rachel finished those studies at  Mt .St. Vincent’s earning a B.S. in Biology. After language study in Tanzania, Sister Rachel taught biology, chemistry and other subjects for nine years in three secondary schools. When her students were coming back to teach, Sister Rachel changed her teaching to lay leadership training for small Christian communities in the Arusha diocese. For twelve years the Sisters visited all the parishes and over two thousand leaders were trained in the Center. At the same time they had a small farm with ten young people working in animal husbandry which helped make the Center self-reliant. They were able to turn this Center over to Tanzanian Sisters from Kilimanjaro and respond to the government invitation to work in the Iringa Region.

Sister Rachel was a delegate to four General Assemblies of the Maryknoll Sisters as well as serving full time one year as the Regional Research and Planning Coordinator for the Tanzania Maryknoll Sisters. In 2008 she celebrated her Golden Jubilee, fifty years of giving her life for others, stretching her imagination and talent to meet urgent needs in mission.

Sisters Rachel and Noreen take their turns staffing the house of hospitality in Nairobi, Kenya for Maryknoll Sisters in Africa for retreats, meetings, medical care, etc. However, they will be in daily contact by cell phone with the folks in Iringa and will go back every two months for a week or so.

Sister Peggy Lipsio, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She is from New Rochelle, NY and entered Maryknoll in 1957. Assigned to Chile in 1965, she studied Spanish in Pucón and moved to Talca, living among the poor, sharing their lives and their poverty. She did pastoral work, visiting people in their homes and giving Christian formation programs for married couples, as well as attending the parish clinic mornings to give injections. After ten years, she reluctantly left Chile and the people, expelled under General Pinochet’s notorious regime of violence and repression. She had risked her own life to save another.

Back in the States, Sister Peggy earned her nursing degree and in 1980, went to Thailand in response to Catholic Relief Services appeal for volunteer nurses to help in Cambodian refugee camps. She supervised a maternal child health program for a poulation of 40,000 and, understanding what life is in violent situations, took time to listen to their stories.

Assigned to the Eastern U.S. Region in 1983, she began more than a decade in Rochester, NY as a Public Health Nurse for the Monroe County Health Department, first as a Home Health Nurse, the only Spanish-speaking nurse in her division, a blessing to her many Hispanic clients. She was also a maternal/child care nurse and worked in the TB clinic.

Presently she lives in North Carolina, again sharing her skills and experience as a Henderson County Public Health Nurse, ministering to pregnant Hispanic women. She works with a Physician’s Assistant to provide physical, social and educational help to these women. Her language fluency is a great asset as she visits the trailer parks and low income housing in the county. As a volunteer nurse with the American Red Cross, she rushed to Natchitoches, Louisiana in response to the hurricane devastation of the gulf coast, helping in a shelter for more than 600 people.

Sister Rosemary McCormack, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. Sister Rosemary McCormack entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from Long Island City, New York in 1957. In 1962 she was a star on a TV puppet show for children featured in the NY Archdiocese. This popular show, “Let’s Talk About God,” was taped for other dioceses and also shown in the Philippines.

She studied for two years at Mary Rogers College, Maryknoll, NY and received her B.A. in Sociology from St. Catherine’s, St. Paul, MN in 1967. That same year she was assigned to the Bolivia/Peru Region and studied Spanish in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

In 1968, Sister Rosemary began her commitment to Peru in two areas on the southern outskirts of Lima, Ciudad de Dios and Pamplona Alta. Her work involved her as a social worker and pastoral worker in community development. In 1980, a turbulent time of violence in Peru, Sister Rosemary was elected full time Coordinator of the Maryknoll Sisters in the Peru Region and traveled throughout the country. On completing her term, Sister Rosemary returned to Ciudad de Dios to work in a day care center.

From 1985-1989 Sister Rosemary returned to NY for mission education and promotion work. Her TV talents were highlighted once again when Maryknoll’s Social Communication Dept. produced 13 videotaped programs for use at home as well as by parishes and school groups. Entitled “Common Table”, the programs covered such topics as hunger and peace. Co-hosts, Maryknollers Father Donald Doherty and Sister Rosemary, interviewed missioners and other experts.

In 1991, Sister Rosemary received her M.A. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Fordham University, NY in Religious Education and remained in NY for family ministry until June, 1999.

In 1999, Sister Rosemary returned to Peru and presently works in a parish in Pamplona Alta in the diocese of Lurin, created about eight years ago. She is involved in a family Catechetical Program in which parents meet once a week for two years in small groups to deepen their faith and learn how to prepare their children to receive the sacraments. Sister Rosemary meets with leader couples of the small groups and together they prepare the weekly meetings. The final goal of the program is to form Basic Christian Communities in which the people can reflect on their lives in the light of the Gospel and support each other in their efforts to transform society.

By profession Sister Rosemary is a Social Worker and helps a limited number of people who come to her with their problems. Often they just need someone to talk to, but when needed Sister Rosemary also refers them to organizations that can offer the services they need.

Sister Rosemary is a member of the National Conference of Religious Human Rights Commission. In the diocese of Lurin she works on the local level with the Commission on Human Dignity which gives workshops related to Justice and Peace.

Sister Sylvia Pacheco, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She was born in Marida, Yucatan, Mexico. She received a B.S. degree from Colegio Teresiano in Marida and then taught two years. Silvia met the Maryknoll Sisters in Marida through a friend. She never thought she was going to join any religious Congregation. However, on October 9, 1956 Silvia went over to talk to a Maryknoll Sister friend to tell her she was interested in joining Maryknoll and she learned that Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, Foundress of the Maryknoll Sisters, had died that day. She considered this a very special coincidence. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957 and after her first profession of vows she taught Spanish as a second language at Rogers College and also received her B.S. in Education from Rogers College.

In 1964 Sister Silvia was assigned to Mexico where she taught principally in secondary schools in both Marida and Mexico City after which she again joined the faculty of Rogers College for two years. Returning to Mexico she earned her Masters in Social Work from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. In 1979 Sister Silvia was assigned to Guatemala and adapted from life in the metropolis of Mexico City to the jungle, river trips and outdoor plumbing of the rural Peten. As a talented guitarist she enlivened liturgies and meetings in all her pastoral work as well as helping out in courses for health promoters.

In 1982 she continued pastoral work with the indigenous in another state of Guatemala, San Marcos. As a member of an inter-disciplinary team her ministry included adult education for women, preparation of religious leaders, basic training for health promoters and programs for alcoholics and their families in the context of a rural parish organized around Basic Ecclesial Communities and later she continued to assist the health promoter program on a diocesan level.

Last year Sister Silvia was asked to be the Administrator of a Maryknoll Residence serving Maryknollers in Central America as a meeting place, retreat house and house of warm hospitality to those coming to Guatemala City. For more than 20 years the Guatemalan people have stolen Sister Silvia’s heart and the feeling is obviously mutual when you see her in her ministry. This people with a history of years of violence continues to share a deep faith and hope for a better future and they are able to laugh and enjoy life in spite of all the experiences of violence.

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 MaryLou Rajdl, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. When Sister Mary Lou arrived at Maryknoll, NY in 1957, she looked up at the Sisters Center and said, “Coming from a farming community in Minnesota, my first thought as I looked up at the building was, “it sure would hold a lot of hay!”

Through her years in mission Sister Mary Lou has endeared herself regaling everyone with her great sense of humor as a story teller, spiritual director, nurse, and retreat director. Assigned to Hong Kong in 1963 she pursued Cantonese language study and then worked as out patient department supervisor at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital in a small clinic extremely hectic, crowded and busy. Patients and staff noticed her kindness and patience.

In Lantau Island, Sister Mary Lou extended the hospital’s Community Nursing and also had a Prayer Presence ministry. Back in Hong Kong she gave activity-oriented programs in Creation Spirituality, conducting retreats  in Vietnamese camps, spirituality days for Catholic and ecumenical groups and clown ministry sessions. Developing the leadership in the group, she asked them to name the theme they wished which gave insights into their needs. She changed students’ ideas of what a retreat could be.

In 1978 Sister Mary Lou was assigned to the Eastern U.S. Region and worked in Chinatown, Chicago primarily as medical/social work interpreter, taking many Chinese to clinics and hospitals. She also served as the school nutritionist and was its community representative. Sister Mary Lou continues to do pastoral ministry with the Chinese and Burmese; is a Spiritual Director and part time Instructor; a member of the Maryknoll Society Review Board and oversees the Maryknoll Sisters Orientation house in Chicago during the months when they are at the Center in NY.

Sister Melinda Roper, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee as a Maryknoll Sister on February 12th, 2017. She is from Chicago, IL, graduated from Saint Scholastica High School, and attended Michigan State University from 1955-1957. She then entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation at Maryknoll, NY. Sister Melinda served in various roles with the Maryknoll Sisters, beginning with Sisters’ Novitiate at Topsfield, MA, from 1960-1963. She then taught at Colegio Monte Maria in Guatemala from 1963-65.

The following year, Sister Melinda joined the Pastoral Center in Marida, Yucatan, Mexico, where she was involved in catechetical work. She spent a year in Chiapas, Mexico, studying the dialect of the indigenous peoples. In 1971 Sister Melinda earned her B.A. in theology from Loyola University in Chicago. Returning to Guatemala, she served as a staff member in the Centro Apostalico in Huehuetenago. After 14 years serving in Central America, Sister Melinda was elected President of the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation, an office she held from 1978 to 1984. During this time, Sister Melinda received various honorary degrees, including the Doctor of Humane Letters, from Loyola University, Emmanuel College, Fordham University, Catholic University of America, Regis College, New School of Research, and Albertus Magnus College.

Sister Melinda was assigned to the Vicariate of Darien, Panama, in 1985. There, she is engaged with a team of Maryknoll Sisters who live and work with Indians, African Americans and Mestizo settlers. The Sisters travel to 38 different communities instructing Delegates of the Word, catechists, teachers and young mothers. Their main objective is the formation of Ecclesial Basic Communities, small groups that pray and work for a more just and compassionate world.

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.

Sister Mary Tracy, M.M. celebrated her 60^th Jubilee on February 12th, 2017. She is from Summit Argo, Illinois, Sister Mary entered the Maryknoll Sisters in 1957. She spent her first years as a secretary and also working at the U.S. Postal Service office at Maryknoll. After receiving her B.A. degree in community service in 1970, Sister Mary went to Cochabamba, Bolivia, for Spanish language study.

Arriving in Chile, she worked in the southern sector of Santiago in a población called La Bandera. This was undeveloped farmland that was taken over by a large group of homeless families. She worked in a program of alphabetization and did some community organizing until the September 11, 1973, military coup put an end to her work. After taking a practical nursing course at the local public hospital, she worked in several public health clinics in the area and assisted social workers at a refugee center.

Receiving her nursing degree from Columbia University in 1982, Sister Mary responded to an appeal from Church World Services for nurses to volunteer for a three-month period in the understaffed hospitals of West Beirut, a predominantly Muslim sector of the city. Her emergency hospital was located in a parking garage under a 12-story apartment building.

Sister Mary remembers holding a flashlight between her teeth while she changed dressings. “It’s been a great opportunity to meet and work with the Palestinian and Lebanese patients and staff as well as the international staff of volunteers—a wonderful group of people.”

In 1983 when Sister Mary returned to Chile and a población in Santiago named El Castillo, the military government had already decided on a policy of eradication of slums in many parts of the capital. That policy, along with terrible flooding in another part of the city, sent some 50,000 people to El Castillo, where there were no jobs, no schools, no paved roads, no buses, no clinics, and no electricity. Gradually, electricity and buses were put in, and people went to work in other parts of the city.

In the course of the next 13 years, the Sisters worked with families as they set up soup kitchens. At one point, 2,000 people were eating one main meal a day in 13 different soup kitchens. They also had programs of intensive organic gardening, solar fruit dehydration and a knitting cooperative, and collaborated with other groups in health care and community services, including a day care program for indigent elderly persons.

In 1996, Sister Mary worked for two years as the assistant director of nursing at the Maryknoll Residential Care Center, primarily serving in assisted living.

Back in Chile in 1999, Sister Mary worked in a program offering assistance to the indigent elderly in their homes. She also set up a parish group aimed at visiting the sick in their homes.

At the end of 2000, she returned to the United States to care for her own mother at the family home. “This was a privileged time and I was with her until her death in May of 2005.”

Back in Chile, Sister Mary was part of another parish program, visiting the homebound sick and elderly and residents of a nursing home that housed indigent patients. She was also one of the parish Eucharistic Ministers to bring Communion to these same people.

Sister Mary was assigned to continue her missionary life in the Eastern United States Region in November of 2011.  She is located in Summit Argo, IL where she taught ESL to Polish-speaking religious women during several years, while also assisting an elderly relative and visiting a few homebound parishioners.  The Polish Congregation has since moved out of the parish.

Sister Lourdes Fernandez, M.M. celebrated her 50^th Golden Jubilee on Sunday, September 24 in the Main Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center..

Sister Lourdes was born and raised in Ramon, Isabela of Northeast Luzon in the Philippines.   She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Saint Rita’s College in Manila, Philippines.  Before entering the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1967, she was a teacher for two years in the Philippines at La Salette Elementary School and at the Maryknoll Grade School.

Sister Lourdes’s first mission assignment was in Hawaii, where she taught grade school at Saint Ann’s School in Kaneohe from 1969-1971. She was then assigned to Hong Kong in 1971, where she was a teacher for special needs students at Meng Tak School. From 1974-1985, she served as the Co-Founder and Director of the Workers Formation Program for industrial workers at the Kwun Tong Pastoral Center in Hong Kong. The program offered social, cultural, educational and spiritual services to youth in the workforce. From 1986-1991, she was a teacher at the Asian Workers Exchange in Hong Kong.

In 1991, Sister Lourdes returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in the U.S. and worked as a journalist, photographer, graphic artist and filmmaker in the Maryknoll Sisters Communications Office until 1994. In 1995, she was assigned to Albania to do pastoral work, where she made home visits to families in need.

In 2014, Sister Lourdes was assigned to the Vocation Ministry Team of the Congregation based in the Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary in Baguio City, Philippines. Today, she still serves on the Vocation Ministry Team.

“I can say my Golden Jubilee is truly a Celebration of God’s Love.”-Sister Lourdes Fernandez