(1927 - 2017)

For some time I have thought and prayed that I had a vocation to the religious life. With the advice of my spiritual director and confessor, I was introduced to Sister Alice Joseph and her faculty at St. Brendan’s. Their simplicity and naturalness overpowered me completely.

So begins the letter which twenty-two-year-old Mildred Fogarty of San Francisco wrote to Mother Gerald Barry in late 1949, asking to make application to join the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Mildred, who had just completed her California nursing exams, had been educated by the Sisters of St. Joseph in high school (Star of the Sea) and by the Sisters of Mercy at St. Mary’s College of Nursing, but as her letter indicates it was through her home parish, St. Brendan’s, that she got to know the Adrian Dominicans and knew which congregation she wished to enter.

Mildred Rita Fogarty was born December 18, 1927, in San Francisco to Clifton and Mildred (Ward) Fogarty. Clifton worked for the W.A. Grace Steamship Line and Mildred was a homemaker. The couple also had a son, Eugene.

When Mildred Rita was just ten years old, her mother died; when she was twelve, her father married Rose Margaret McGreevey, and by all accounts stepmother and stepdaughter developed a very close relationship.

Mildred Rita entered the Congregation on February 1, 1950, and became a novice that August, taking the religious name Sister Joseph Eugene. She made first profession on August 9, 1951. With her nurse’s training, it was only logical that her first appointment would be to one of the Congregation’s hospitals, and she was sent to Sisters Hospital, Santa Cruz, California.

Read more about Sister Joseph Eugene (pdf)

(1939-2017)

In her homily at Sister Mary Rita McSweeney’s funeral on September 15, 2017, Sister Attracta Kelly remembered Sister Mary Rita as a woman who – true to what Jesus asks in the selected Gospel reading  – had been deeply committed to helping “the least” in society.

Sister Attracta related a story that Sister Mary Rita had shared with one of their crowd about a homeless man whom she saw every day on her way to work. Rather than passing him by, she would stop to talk with him, and eventually she found him housing and hired him in her ministry.

“As in Mary Rita’s example, it starts by opening our eyes and hearts to the suffering of other human beings,” Sister Attracta said. “The key is to resist the temptation to look the other way or to take refuge in apathy rather than to journey with the open eye and the open heart.”

Read more about Sister Mary Rita (pdf)

(1933-2017)

When through one woman
A little more love and goodness
A little more light and truth
Come into the world
Then that woman’s life had meaning.

That quote, found among Sister Marion Coppe’s belongings, formed the beginning of Sister Joan Delaplane’s homily at Sister Marion’s funeral on September 2, 2017.

“What an apt and succinct description of our beloved Marion’s life!” said Sister Joan, a longtime friend of Marion’s. “If I were a wise and humble Dominican Preacher, I would sit down now with the realization that Marian has already provided today’s homily hidden in her very organized belongings. It is one thing to ‘choose life’ as Deuteronomy admonishes,* and Marion did; but to choose a life of deep love, sensitivity, and generosity is a whole other thing.”

Read more about Sister Marion (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

 

Remembrance for Sister Marion (Rachel Marie):

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Funeral for Sister Marion (Rachel Marie):

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(1919-2017)

“Because I was born on December 6, 1919, I always knew in an unexpressed smug little way that I had something a bit more special than anyone else in my little world: MY birthday was on St. Nicholas Day. Santa Claus himself and I had a celebration in common.”

So begins the autobiography of Sister Susanne Hofweber, the second of six children born to August and Emily (Campbell) Hofweber. Baptized as Elizabeth Jane, she was the middle child of a set of three – with August (called Jack) the oldest and sister Dorothy born a year and a half after her – that was followed by a baby brother, Jimmy, who died at birth. Later, two more children, Billy and Marian, came into the family. ...

Sister Susanne was nine years old when the Great Depression hit. Her father lost his business and eventually the family was evicted from their home. As time went on, August was able to rebuild a business and even held two patents, one for the first self-contained domestic water heater and another for a process that allowed graphite to be used as a lubricant. With other investors, he was able to build that process into a thriving oil-refining company.

Read more about Sister Susanne (pdf).

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.