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December 18, 2024, Winter Park, Florida – When members of the St. Margaret Mary Catholic School community built their Outdoor Learning Center to give children a natural setting in which to learn, they decided to dedicate the new center to two women who made a difference in the lives of many students and parents: Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, and her teaching partner, Mrs. Ana Boudet Forman. Lead donors were Ana’s two nephews and their wives – Missy and Kevin de la Roza and Jamie and Patrick de la Roza, whose children attended St. Margaret Mary School.
“I knew they were going to dedicate it to Ana and me,” Sister Rosemary said. “What I didn’t expect was that they had a plaque on the wall ... I was touched and so humbled. What a surprise!”
Ana explained that her nephews made the donation from money they had received from selling their business. “They have always felt blessed by their success and wanted to give back to their faith community,” she said. Asked what the school could use, Ana suggested an outdoor garden.
The November 21, 2024, dedication ceremony was organized by Principal Kathleen “Katie” Walsh, who invited parents and donors, organized hostesses, and provided food and beverages for the evening. Father Richard Walsh, Pastor, presided over the formal blessing of the new area, Sister Rosemary said.
“The space itself was an unused space behind the school,” Sister Rosemary explained. “When Ana and I taught, we used to take the kids out there and brought some cushions, just to get out of the classrooms and have a nature experience.”
Now, along the outside wall and the half-wall are round bistro tables and metal benches where children can sit or work in groups, Sister Rosemary said.
Along with the Outdoor Learning Center, the school dedicated a Rosary Path. The builders placed rosaries in the ground under glass-covered pavers, encouraging people to walk around and recite the rosary. Ten benches represent the 10 beads in each decade. The Rosary Path leads to the Reflection Garden.
Ana is especially gratified that the outdoor area includes a statue of St. Ann with her daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Someone had found the statue, and it was beaten up,” she said. The art teacher fixed it up, and it now enhances the outdoor area, she said.
Sister Rosemary, Director of Adult Faith Formation for St. Margaret Mary Parish, began teaching seventh-grade religion every day to offer some relief to Ana, the junior high school teacher. Ana was struggling to take care of her daughter who at the time suffered from frequent ear infections. “I was able to come in a little later,” Ana recalled, explaining that it gave her time to take care of her daughter.
The arrangement “was supposed to be temporary, but it ended up to be 23 years,” Sister Rosemary said. “One of the highlights of working at the school was being able to go over every day, leave my office at the parish, and go over to the school and just join in the energy of the children over there and get to know them personally, work with them, develop their faith, teach them about different traditions, help them learn and enrich their own Catholic faith, and hear their stories.” She delights in seeing her former students, now parents, send their children to St. Margaret Mary School.
Ana recalled the many projects that she and Sister Rosemary worked on together, including taking their students to a center for migrants so that they could help the migrants with their homework and giving the migrant children treats for Christmas. “We also created art projects that had to do with the themes we were teaching,” Ana said, noting that Sister Rosemary was “always on board” with her ideas. “I think we were a great team,” Ana said. “We complemented each other.”
Even years before the Outdoor Learning Center was built, Ana and Sister Rosemary frequently took their students outside – often to read from a religious magazine that featured articles on the Sunday Gospel and on the saints, Ana said. The students frequently recited the rosary outside, often asking if they could dedicate a decade for a challenge that their families were facing.
While she and Sister Rosemary frequently taught their students outside, Ana sees an advantage in the new Outdoor Learning Center. “I think it’s going to be a wonderful place for the whole school,” she said. “We have so many nice days [in Florida] that we can take advantage of the nice weather.”
Ana retired in 2018 and worked as a tutor for a few years. “Now I’m a full-time grandmother and giving my energy to my family.”
Sister Rosemary was on the staff of St. Margaret Mary Parish for 35 years and taught seventh-grade religion for 23 years. She retired from teaching in 2017 and from her formal ministry in the parish in 2022, but she remains active and committed to the parish.
Sister Rosemary’s parish ministry involved overseeing the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, now the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, the process in which adults are brought into the Catholic Church, as well as Bible studies, various classes for adults, and anything involving faith formation for adults.
She also chaired the Peace Committee for the parish’s Haiti Ministry, in which St. Margaret Mary Parish journeys with a parish in Haiti, working with them on projects that “provide a self-sustaining impact.” Sister Rosemary estimates that she has visited Haiti 12 to 15 times to meet the people, experience liturgies, and see how they live. “It’s a humbling experience to see how humble they are and how committed they are,” she said. “They want the same things we do, and it’s painful now to see how they live under the circumstances of the gangs and the government.”
Sister Rosemary has been appreciative of her experience at St. Margaret Mary, both with the parish and the school. “We have very good leadership in our parish,” she said. “The principal is dynamic and always looking to better the school in any way. Our pastor, the priests, and the staff are all committed to making the parish what it should be, reaching out to others.”
Caption for above feature photo: Ana Boudet Forman, left, and Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, stand on either side of a plaque indicating that St. Margaret Mary School’s Outdoor Learning Center has been dedicated to them.