Current Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center-Maryknoll, NY

Sister Helen, from Worcester, Massachusetts, entered Maryknoll in 1953.  She worked in the Maryknoll Seminary kitchen.  She studied at Maryknoll Teachers College, and received her Bachelor’s in Education in 1961.  That same year, Sister Helen went to Transfiguration School in New York City’s Chinatown where she taught for three years.

Sister Helen went to Santiago, Chile in 1964, where she taught religion and English.  In 1974, she had moved to Buzeta, Chile, where she helped direct a formation school and helped mothers prepare their children for the sacraments.  She returned to the United States in 1978 and for three years did Mission Awareness sharing her mission experiences in schools and parishes.

Sister Helen went back to Santiago in 1981, and she focused her mission on the empowerment of women.  She worked in the mental health program of Casa Malen, a women’s center that helps poor women who developed neuroses while trying to cope with the stress of political violence and the culturally-approved dominance of their husbands.  Sister Helen and Sister Gerri Doiron and the women together wrote a book entitled, El Arcoiris Comienza Al Poniente, Casa Malen, Su Historia (The Rainbow Begins in the West, the History of Casa Malen).

Sister Helen worked for 30 years at Casa Malen.  Today, the Center continues offering a place for women to develop their talents.  Couples who are not yet married attend workshops there and learn tools for dialogue within their relationship.  Sister Helen was also involved in peace movements and human rights organizations in Chile.

In 2011, Sister Helen returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center where she resides up to the present.