In Ministry - Stories

October 23, 2024, Houston, Texas – Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, Director of the Secretariat for Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas, took an unconventional path to her vocation as an Adrian Dominican Sister. Born into a tight-knit Irish Catholic family in Chicago, she was the niece of Sister Mary Frances Coleman, OP, an Adrian Dominican Sister. 

Sister Maureen was educated by Sisters: the Adrian Dominican Sisters in first and second grades, the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters for the rest of her elementary school years, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame in high school. “I was pretty clear that I wasn’t going to be a nun because everybody thought I was going to be a nun,” she said. “I think that’s why it took me a while.”

After her freshman year in college, Sister Maureen entered the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation but stayed only for a few months. “I felt I was clear I didn’t have a vocation,” she said.

Sister Maureen attended Chicago Teachers College and finished her bachelor’s degree in education at DePaul University in Chicago. She also holds a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Houston.

She taught with Adrian Dominican Sisters for three years at Infant of Prague School in Flossmoor, Illinois. Among her teaching colleagues was a high school friend whose aunt was the first woman police officer in Chicago. When her friend Donna heard about the entrance exam for the Police Academy, she talked Sister Maureen into taking the test with her. “It was truly a lark,” Sister Maureen recalled. “There was no one in my family who was in the police. I took the exam and I was pretty high on the list – fifth.” 

She attended the Police Academy in June and, after graduation, was first assigned to the youth division to work with women and children. “It was a different spin on being a teacher,” she said. Later she was assigned to serve as a detective in the vice division. She served as a police officer from 1966 to 1977.

“There’s a sense of camaraderie in the police department,” Sister Maureen said. “I was 26 and adventurous for sure.” Being a Chicago police officer offered opportunities for exciting work, including undercover operations and serving on a security detail when First Lady Pat Nixon was in town.

While serving in the police department, Sister Maureen became friends with some of the Adrian Dominican Sisters teaching at Aquinas High School in Chicago. “That was the beginning for me in considering religious life,” she said.

She entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 1977, professed her first vows in 1980, and in 1982 moved to Houston, where she has since ministered in a variety of ways. After serving as a counselor, Sister Maureen founded Angela House, a residential program to help formerly incarcerated women prepare for healthy and independent lives in the greater community. 

“It’s amazing to see the resilience” of the women who came to Angela House, Sister Maureen said. She remembers being inspired “seeing what these women have to overcome even to get into the community after they’ve already paid their debt.” She continues to serve on the Board of Angela House.

Sister Maureen took on her current ministry as Director of the Secretariat for Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in 2020, overseeing the Justice and Peace Office and the archdiocese’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which offers grants to local anti-poverty and social justice programs. 

In 2022, the Office of Aging and Children’s Youth Services were added to her secretariat. “Our aging population is very vulnerable and the youth are also a very vulnerable population, so [they] fit into the area of social concerns.”

Sister Maureen’s responsibilities and activities are varied, including serving on the Cardinal’s Cabinet and on several boards in the archdiocese: St. Vincent de Paul Society; Catholic Charities; San José Clinic, a medical clinic that works with uninsured patients; and a shelter for women and children seeking asylum.

Her biggest challenge, she said, is “helping people to understand that Catholic social teaching is really the foundation of our faith and closely connected to the Gospel.” She works with parishes, priests, and lay people to help them understand Catholic social teachings. She also teaches them about Care for Creation. “Because this is such a big gas and oil community, people are often askance at care for creation,” she said. But an all-day event on the topic two years ago brought in about 120 people, she added. “It was a delight.”

Sister Maureen also relishes her work managing the CCHD grant process. She and a small group of people visit the organizations that have requested grants. She appreciates “seeing the people who don’t have the capacity to hire a grant writer and yet they’re the ones who are feet on the ground, serving people. It’s been a great privilege for me to work with them.”

Sister Maureen draws on her past experiences as a police officer and at Angela House in her current ministry. “I’m trying to make connections among other agencies and programs,” she said. “That’s what I did at Angela House. Who can we connect with that will help us further the mission?”  

She was honored on October 24, 2024, by the Emmaus Spirituality Center at its Journey with Emmaus Gala.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, cuts the ribbon for a new facility of Angela House, a residential program to help formerly incarcerated women successfully transition into healthy lives in the community.