50-YEAR JUBILARIAN BIOGRAPHIES

Sister Kathleen Hearn, SNJM
(Sister Rosita Mary)

Baptized Kathleen Rose Hearn, I was the second of five children born to John and Madeline Hearn in Portland, Oregon. After attending St.Philip Neri Grade School and St. Mary’s Academy I entered the convent at Marylhurst. I was eager to embrace God’s Will as a Religious Sister and as I progressed through the Novitiate and early years my focus and passion became love for God and God’s people.

After graduating from Marylhurst College I taught young children and worked with Families for twenty-eight years. This took me to elementary schools in Medford, Cottage Grove, Salem, and Portland and to Marylhurst Early Childhood Center. I have fond memories of these life-giving years with children.

Encouraged by Vatican II, I updated my theology at Fort Wright College in Spokane, earning my Masters in Religious Education. This experience opened me to new needs of God’s People.

In the 1980’s, aware of the increasing number of Hispanic people in the Willamette Valley I was drawn to them, their language and culture. I participated in an intensive Pastoral Program at the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio,Texas and then lived with a Family and studied Spanish in Mexico. This prepared me for cross cultural ministry in Cornelius, Oregon at Centro Cultural, a Center for Mexicans. I set up a learning center for English as a second language and a tutoring program, working there for three years. I moved on to combine my Hispanic interest with my early childhood skills in a Parent / Child Headstart Program in Hillsboro. My cross cultural ministry was a very enriching learning experience.

The 1990’s brought another change in ministry focus. I went through the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at Providence Portland Medical Center and ministered for the next fifteen years as a Chaplain with Evergreen Hospice in Salem, at Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Providence Mt. St. Vincent - a long-term care center in Seattle. Presently, I am a Volunteer in Pastoral Services at Mary’s Woods in Lake Oswego.

ABUNDANCE and GRATITUDE ! These two powerful words sum up my 50 years as a Sister of the Holy Names.

Sister Mary McNassar, SNJM
(Sister Ann Carmel)

Born in Iowa, to John McNassar and Mary Katharine Dehner, I was surrounded by Catholicism.  My parents nurtured our faith by daily family prayer and religious practices.  Growing up, I was influenced both by my teachers, The School Sisters of Notre Dame, and by my six aunts and uncles who were priests, and religious.  When my Grandmother, who had been honored as Catholic Mother of America in 1943, died, my beloved Grandfather joined the Trappist Monastary.   

By 1954, we had relocated to Oregon and were active members of St. Phillip Neri Parish and I began high school at St. Mary’s Academy. Shortly before graduation, I realized God was calling me to join the Sisters of the Holy Names.  My “yes” followed that of my older brother and sister already in the seminary and novitiate.  As the third of eleven children, my siblings were a cherished part of my life and leaving them was especially difficult since some of them were still small children.

But my first ministry as a primary teacher felt natural to me and I strove to create the same warm milieu I had experienced as a child.  After eleven years, I transitioned to teaching adolescents in Residential Treatment.  During that time I had a religious experience, recognizing the suffering Christ in these young people.  God was planting the seeds of a new ministry.   But I continued in Education for a while longer as Vice Principal at St. Mary’s Academy and as Director of School Personnel and Programs in the Spokane Diocese before obtaining a Doctorate in Psychology. I then served as a Psychologist at the University of Portland and in Private Practice for 23 years.

Glory to God for His faithfulness to me. I am profoundly grateful for His presence in my life, for the foundation I received from my family, and for the privilege of serving His people for the past 50 years.  My love and gratitude extends to the Sisters of the Holy Names, upon whose rich and abundant legacy I was able to contribute my small bit toward “something new’.

Sister Janet Ryan, SNJM
(Sister Christopher James)

I was born in Montana and raised in Alaska. From early days my life was filled with nature’s majestic beauty of Rocky Mountains, hiking trails, skiing, swimming in very cold lakes, growing oversized vegetables, earthquakes, volcanoes erupting and starlit nights gazing at the aurora borealis. I reverenced the gift of nature in my growing up years. Alaska imprinted on me nature’s expansive view of God. Each spring when one vigorous green shoot sprouted forth through snows and mud new life was renewed. In that surrounding I heard God’s call to religious life although I had little acquaintance with religious sisters, brothers or priests. When we were nestled in a small fishing village we rarely saw a priest.

My introduction to the Sisters of the Holy Names emerged when a neighbor attending Marylhurst College enthusiastically instilled a strong sense within me to consider my college education to be on that campus. Clear to me was a desire to teach, and it was greatly enhanced in coming to know the Sisters of the Holy Names. The call to join the Sisters grew louder and more persistent.

Teaching in middle school was a delight especially with seventh and eighth graders. I was blessed in spending twenty years in Eugene, first as principal of O’Hara Catholic School (which I was privileged to name) and later as campus minister at the University of Oregon. One of the best gifts of my life was the adventure of a sabbatical year. “Active Spirituality for the Global Community” was a program for religious in their mid-life years. This opportunity for renewal opened my eyes to newness in many ways and shifted the focal point of my energies to the church’s social teachings, which I continue in vocation and parish ministry.

I believe that everyone is a sacred part of the human story, that we are in relationship with all of creation, and that the widest circle of inclusion is our mission, sacred trust and legacy. I have hope that we will emerge as a peaceable planet reverencing diversity and God’s presence in our created universe.

Sister Prisca Hui, SNJM
(Sister Mon Ching)

I was born in Hong Kong in 1937. The night before I was born my father dreamed that the baby to be born is a girl. So he named me Mon Chun ( means dreams come true) and Prisca is my baptismal name. My parents are very unconventional. I grew up seeing my parents always doing something new. They raised me the same way.

In 1957 after finishing high school I joined a Chinese community against my father's will. After my fist vows in 1960 I went back to school to study at Hong Kong University. At that time not many Chinese nuns in Hong Kong went to the University. I was among the first ones graduating from the University wearing a religious habit.  Then for twenty years I worked as a high school administrator. The personal growth and the transformation of my students was my top priority.

I met the Holy Names Sisters in Hong Kong in the early 70s. In 1987 I left Hong Kong to join the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Transferring from one religious community to another religious community was almost unheard of in Hong Kong at that time. Again I'm doing something new.

In 1991 I took final vows as a Holy Name Sister. Then I worked in the Holy Family Parish in San Francisco for seven years as the Pastoral Associate. In 1998 I went back to study and got myself certified as a Health Care Interpreter In this capacity I worked until 2003. Then I learned Ascension, the Art of Ancient Prayer. This totally changed my life. I found a tool which I can use it to make my ministry more effective as well as deepen my spiritual life and commitment as a Holy Names sister.

This is a tool to teach interfaith meditation. I went for teacher training in 2004 and became a qualified teacher in 05. Since then I have been teaching meditation in Hong Kong and the US. I have a center of meditation in Hong Kong. In this center we teach meditation classes and hold meditation regularly I am very happy and my heart is full of joy. For 50 years God has touched so many people's hearts through me. I want to be a channel of praise, gratitude, love and compassion.