Sister Ann Carol Brielmaier

Sister Ann Carol BrielmaierCurrent Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center-Maryknoll, NY

Sister Ann Carol is a native of St. Louis, MO, and entered Maryknoll in 1943.   A cheerful but reserved young woman with an earnest desire to spread the love of God, she soon found herself setting out for South China where she began her forty-two years of foreign mission service.

Upon her arrival in China in 1947, Sister Ann Carol spent a year studying Cantonese in Wuzhou before immersing herself in mission work.  She taught English, sewing, and Gregorian chant to Chinese Sisters at a Maryknoll-associated Novitiate. However, in 1949 the Communist government placed her and the other Maryknoll Sisters on this mission under house arrest, putting a hold on their service.

It wasn’t until 1951 that Sister Ann Carol and her companions were released and were able to return to Hong Kong.  It was that very year, despite all that she had experienced, Sister Ann Carol succeeded in earning her B.A. in Geography and English at Hong Kong University.

In 1955, Sister Ann Carol taught sixth grade for a year before going to the Philippines to continue her studies.  The next year, she was back to Hong Kong and served first as the Principal at Maryknoll Sisters School, and then the Director of a Student hostel at Chinese University.  Consequently, Sister Ann Carol taught and served as Principal by turns in Maryknoll secondary schools for the next twelve years. She then returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center at the end of this period to offer Congregational Service as the Hospitality Coordinator.

Sister Ann Carol then spent four years as the Director of a Pastoral Center in Macau. As the director, she sought to help the poor in their struggle to acquire necessary assistance from charities and government agencies.

In 1994, Sister Ann Carol returned to the U.S. to work in Maryknoll‘s West Coast Promotion Office at the Maryknoll Retirement Home in Monrovia, CA until her retirement in 2000.  There she remained an active and cheerful member of the Monrovia Community.   In 2012, Sister Ann Carol returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center where she currently resides.