Current Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY
Sister Mary Grace was born June 19th, 1924 in St. Louis, MO to Agnes Krieger and John Krieger. She had 1 sister and 1 brother. Sister Mary Grace graduated from Xavier High School in St. Louis in 1941. She attended Harris Teachers College in St. Louis and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1946.
Sister Mary Grace entered the Congregation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY on September 4th, 1948. She pronounced First Vows March 7th, 1951 at the Sisters Center and Final Vows March 7th, 1954 in the Philippines.
Assigned to the Philippines in 1951, Sister Mary Grace served ten years as an elementary school teacher in Manila and assistant high school principal in Jimenez.
Her talents were tapped to serve six years (1964 – 1969) as assistant novice mistress in both New York and Topsfield, MA. She earned a Master or Education Degree in Adult Education from Boston University in 1971 as well as a Berlitz Certificate in 1972 in Spanish. She lived from 1969 – 1973 in Roxbury, MA, supervising six community organizers in school and communications programs in African-American areas of Boston 1976 – 1980.
She also worked with the federation of three parochial schools in the African-American community. These years were her “most complete immersion in another culture – and the active promotion of understanding another culture.” In 1976, she traveled to Nigeria to help Bishop Patrick Ekpu organize a chancery office and to assist in the formation of a new Nigerian religious community.
In Dallas, TX, Sister Mary Grace was an organizational consultant at an African-American school and coordinator of an education program for the Dallas Association of Mentally Challenged Citizens.
Returning full circle to St. Louis (1980-1991), she ministered as the executive secretary and director of the Catholic Commission of the Handicapped (now the Catholic Office of Disability Ministry), educating for self-determination, inclusion and understanding.
From 1991 – 1996, Sister Mary Grace served as director of Maryknoll Mission Archives, which she considered a wonderful experience of collaboration. In 1991 she received a Certificate of Archives Administration from the National Archives & Records in Washington, DC.
Sister Mary Grace lived in Yonkers, NY as part of the Eastern US Region. She was active in the Maryknoll Affiliate Group and in Pax Christi. In 2012, she retired to the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY where she continues to be active in Pax Christi and doing projects for the Congregation.