
In 1964, in response to an appeal from the Church, six Sisters left San Antonio for Chimbote, Peru.
Pictured in a special gray habit are Sisters Charles Marie Frank, Mary Mark Gerken, Maria Felicitas Villegas, Rosalina Acosta, Louis Katharine Schuler, and Gwendolyn Grothoff. Mothers Mary Clare Cronly and Mary Calvary Le Page accompanied the Sisters to the airport.
Pictured in a special gray habit are Sisters Charles Marie Frank, Mary Mark Gerken, Maria Felicitas Villegas, Rosalina Acosta, Louis Katharine Schuler, and Gwendolyn Grothoff. Mothers Mary Clare Cronly and Mary Calvary Le Page accompanied the Sisters to the airport.

In 2000, the Congregation opened a mission in Zambia. The Mother and Infant Care Program was established by the Sisters to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Since its inception, the program has been extremely effective in achieving its goal. Sr. María Cristina Vargas (left) and Sr. Rosa Margarita Valdés (right) were the first to go to Zambia.

Sisters Peggy Bonnot, Margaret Snyder, and Marianne Kramer founded El Puente in 1999 to connect Spanish-speaking immigrants in the mid-Missouri area to church and community resources.
While serving as El Puente’s Executive Director, Sr. Peggy also accompanied clients on doctor visits and translated for them.
While serving as El Puente’s Executive Director, Sr. Peggy also accompanied clients on doctor visits and translated for them.

Sr. Louise Mair (center) worked for many years as a cook at the Provincial House in St. Louis, Missouri. She later served in Cambio Puente, Peru, living in a simple house the Sisters built themselves.
Sr. Louise baked bread to share with her neighbors; she was very much loved by the people of Cambio Puente.
Sr. Louise baked bread to share with her neighbors; she was very much loved by the people of Cambio Puente.

At the beginning of the millennium, Sisters from Mexico opened an educational center in Ixcan, Guatemala, at the invitation of the local bishop. The region is multi-ethnic, made up of displaced persons who sought refuge some fourteen years earlier from conflicts in Central America.
Pictured is Sr. Emilia Gracia.
Pictured is Sr. Emilia Gracia.

Sr. Martha Josefina Rea (left) González, concerned that the elderly were not being treated with dignity, co-founded the Center for Care of Older Adults in 1996 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Sr. Martha Josefina and Sr. Delfina María Moreno Verduzco gave older women and men tools to live with courage and acceptance. Sr. Martha Josefina also trained hundreds of caregivers, geriatric specialists, and family members to minister to the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the elderly of Guadalajara.

During the 1960's, many sisters in both the United Sates and in Mexico began working in institutions not directly related to the Congregation. Parish ministry was introduced in the United States in 1968 when Sisters Helen Ann Collier, Alice Maria Rothermich, Joan Holden, and Jane Frances McGrail served as assistants to pastors in two parishes in St. Louis, Missouri.
Pictured are Srs. Annette Pezold and Helen Ann Collier.
Pictured are Srs. Annette Pezold and Helen Ann Collier.

After teaching and serving for many years as principal in Catholic elementary schools, Sr. Brigid Marie Clarke became Director of the Catechetical Center for the Archdiocese of San Antonio and a consultant and facilitator of the Catholic Consultation Counseling Center. Later, she ministered as a spiritual director and facilitator for individuals, parish groups, and other religious congregations.

Women’s Global Connection was founded by Sisters Dorothy Ettling and Neomi Hayes.
Women’s Global Connection strengthens families and communities and works for transformative change. The organization fosters innovative partnerships that support projects linking women and girls to education, technology, and business opportunities.
(co-founder, Sr. Dorothy Ettling, far right)
Women’s Global Connection strengthens families and communities and works for transformative change. The organization fosters innovative partnerships that support projects linking women and girls to education, technology, and business opportunities.
(co-founder, Sr. Dorothy Ettling, far right)

The Congregation established Cooperativade Mujeres Tampamolon, San Luis Potosí, to train indigenous women to do needlework that will enable them to produce garments and jewelry that can be marketed and sold. This enables them to provide for their families and gain some financial stability. Pictured is Sr. María Cardoso and one of the program’s clients.

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Sr. Mary Hanick (1915–2009) loved people. From teaching music to high school and college students in Texas and Missouri, to walking with the poor elderly in the African American community in St. Louis, she did so with love, understanding, compassion, and enthusiasm. Sr. Mary grew up during the Depression, and that experience influenced the way she lived her life: simply, and with a trusting dependence on God and God’s love. At age 59, Sr. Mary Hanick began serving the poor elderly in the African American communities of St. Louis, at St. Edward and later St. Augustine parishes. She visited them in their homes, helped them with medical and legal services, drove them to church, and sang in the choirs.

Sr. Patricia Anne Kelley (1936–1987) was a daughter of St. Louis and died serving the city she loved. A teacher and pastoral minister for 25 years, Pat returned from a year in the desert, determined to devote the rest of her life to helping the poor and elderly. Sister Pat became a dynamic voice for the poor, establishing the independent nonprofit, Energycare, Inc. and with the St. Louis gas company, Dollar Help. Her work on the local, state, and national levels earned her the St. Louis Globe-Democrat’s Humanities Award in 1984, the only woman so honored in the twenty-six year history of the award. On September 27, 1987, Sr. Pat Kelley was murdered by someone she let into her office to help.

Sr. Mary of Jesus Noirry was part of the first community of Sisters, arriving in San Antonio in 1869.
In 1875, when a separate orphanage was established, Sr. Mary of Jesus was part of the small community of Sisters responsible for the orphans’ care.
Wearing a soldier’s overcoat that reached to her ankles and armed with a brace of pistols, Sr. Mary of Jesus toured outlying towns, begging for food and clothing. She usually returned with a few hundred dollars plus plenty of eggs, butter, bacon, and potatoes.
In 1875, when a separate orphanage was established, Sr. Mary of Jesus was part of the small community of Sisters responsible for the orphans’ care.
Wearing a soldier’s overcoat that reached to her ankles and armed with a brace of pistols, Sr. Mary of Jesus toured outlying towns, begging for food and clothing. She usually returned with a few hundred dollars plus plenty of eggs, butter, bacon, and potatoes.

Sister Stephen Dombey also sought funds for orphans. Sr. Stephen called on a San Antonio businessman and asked for a donation. He responded to her plea by spitting in her hand. Undaunted, Sister looked at him directly and said, “Thank you, sir. That was for me. Now would you please give me something for the orphans?”

Sr. Martha Ann Kirk has made numerous trips to the Middle East and has worked for and spoken about the need for education, peace, and reconciliation among people, especially for the benefit of women and children.
Sr. Martha Ann and Dr. Fatma Arslan, of the Women’s Association of the Raindrop Turkish House in San Antonio, have led many interfaith programs together.
Sr. Martha Ann and Dr. Fatma Arslan, of the Women’s Association of the Raindrop Turkish House in San Antonio, have led many interfaith programs together.

Sor Bernadette Azuela (1931–2008) believed in social justice and lived what she practiced: the poor, the ill, and the homeless always had a place at her table. Seeking to provide a way for the poor to live in their own homelands, she developed the Ecological Center in Hidalgo, Mexico, teaching sustainable practices such as organic farming, cooking with solar ovens, and drawing on local knowledge of medicinal plants.

The headwaters of the San Antonio start their journey on the Congregation’s property. In 2008, the Sisters set aside 53 acres of congregation land from their original property purchased in 1897 and created the Headwaters Coalition, a ministry dedicated to Earth care and to living in right relationship with God’s creation.