SAN DIEGO — One of Cardinal Robert W. McElroy’s final acts as shepherd of the Diocese of San Diego was to celebrate the ministry of local women religious.
The 25th Annual Sisters Appreciation and Jubilee Celebration, held March 1 at the diocesan Pastoral Center, was the last public event on the cardinal’s calendar before departing San Diego the following day, in anticipation of his March 11 installation as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The event included a Mass and luncheon, where those sisters who are celebrating milestone anniversaries of entering consecrated life received recognition.
“What a lovely year for these sisters to celebrate their personal jubilees –– during the Jubilee Holy Year of the Church, with its theme, ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’” said Sister Kathleen Warren, OSF, director of the diocesan Office for Women Religious.
Pope Francis called for a holy year, or jubilee, to begin on Dec. 24 of last year and to run through Jan. 6, 2026. Held every 25 years, jubilees are special periods dedicated to repentance and striving for greater holiness.
Religious sisters celebrating jubilee anniversaries this year include:
70 YEARS
Born in Berwyn, Maryland, Sister Josephine Bryan, SP, was the sixth of seven children.
When her mother was pregnant with the youngest of those children, Sister Bryan’s father had a serious fall that resulted from a war injury and required permanent hospitalization.
“Knowing my dad as someone needing both medical and illness care was the budding of my vocation to be a Sister of Providence from St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana,” said Sister Bryan, who entered that community in July of 1955 and took final vows in 1963.
While completing her formation, she earned a bachelor’s in Education and taught elementary school in Indianapolis for three years, before being called to pursue a bachelor’s in Nursing, which had been “my dream, hope,” since entering religious life.
After graduation, she was assigned as head nurse in her community infirmary, which provided dental and medical care for 1,400 sisters.
In 1968, after hearing that sister-nurses were needed for the war in Vietnam, Sister Bryan volunteered and ministered in both Catholic and Buddhist orphanages, first in Saigon and, after the Tet Offensive, in the imperial city of Hue.
She subsequently pursued and earned a master’s in Gerontological Nursing.
Sister Bryan ministered at Providence Hospital and Healthcare for the Homeless, located in the Archdiocese of Washington. She later served as a healthcare director, first with the Franciscan Sisters in Wisconsin and then with the Sisters of Providence.
Since retiring to California, she has lived with her fellow sisters and volunteered in hospitals, clinics and detention centers.
“The highlight of my ministry is meeting the human dignity of each person with whom I meet,” she said. “I have always worked hard, but feel I have had more joy in nursing ministry that outweighs the work.
“I have never seen God,” she said, “but I have seen God in those I have met on this journey.”
Sister Noreen O’Connor, RSM, was born to Irish parents in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Her family returned to Ireland when she was 3 years old.
She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy at the Convent of Mercy, Sligo, Ireland, on Oct. 7, 1952, and made her first profession of vows on July 25, 1955.
Sister O’Connor taught at Roscommon Elementary School in Ireland, before moving to the United States in 1958.
She continued to teach in California, in the dioceses of San Bernardino and San Diego.
From 1970 to 1976, she served as regional superior of her Congregation of Mercy.
Subsequently, she was active in parish ministry in the San Bernardino Diocese, where she served as a director of religious education, a pastoral associate and a pastoral administrator.
“As I reflect on and celebrate 70 years of consecrated life,” she said, “I am grateful to have cared for and served those who needed help.”
60 YEARS
One of seven children, Sister Grace Anne Boys, SSS, was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
“Since I entered the Sisters of Social Service in Los Angeles, California, in 1965, my life is one of continuous enrichment by people of many cultures,” Sister Boys said.
From the beginning of her religious life, she has lived with several sisters from Michoacán, Mexico. Early on, she also came to know sisters from China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Eastern Europe.
Sister Boys made her first profession of vows in 1968 and her final profession in 1972.
“My ministry over the years has always been in social work,” she said.
She has worked with groups at Guadalupe Center in Canoga Park, St. Andrew/St. Joseph’s Community Center in West Oakland, St. Andrews Parish in Portland, and Bayside Settlement in San Diego.
For 15 years, she was part of the Sisters of Social Service’s community in Taiwan, while teaching in the Social Work Department at Fu Jen Catholic University. Learning Mandarin, she said, gave her “another window on the world.”
Referencing her motto, Sister Boys said, “Truly, ‘the Lord is my strength and my song.’”
Sister Luz María Jiménez, SJS, was born and raised in Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, Mexico.
A member of the Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, she entered the convent on Feb. 11, 1963, and professed her first vows on Aug. 15, 1965.
The following year, she moved to San Ysidro to begin her first assignment in the United States.
During her years in religious life, Sister Jiménez has served in various ministries, including as a teacher and principal at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in San Ysidro and at Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy in Calexico. Also in Calexico, she has taught at Vincent Memorial Catholic High School.
Sister Jiménez also taught for two years in West Los Angeles, one year in Sacramento, 10 years in El Segundo, and two years in Bakersfield.
She was a substitute teacher at St. Kieran School, El Cajon, during the 2012-2013 school year.
Since 2013, she has served at Mater Dei Catholic High School. Having formerly been a campus ministry assistant and an administrative assistant for Mater Dei’s Juan Diego Adult Education, from 2013 to 2018, she now serves in spiritual direction, liturgy preparation and chapel care.
“I am very blessed to have been called by God to the religious life and, in a very special way, to the Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament,” she said, noting that the congregation’s charisms are Eucharistic adoration and education.
“My love and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, to Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph have played an important highlight in my life,” she said. “I love what I am doing and hope I will continue to do it as long as God wants and allows me to.”
25 YEARS
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Sister Katia Chávez, SJS, was a college freshman when she discerned a call to religious life with the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.
She professed her first vows in 2000 and final vows in 2006.
“With God’s grace and mercy, I am celebrating 25 years of being a vowed religious woman,” she said. “I fulfill this calling thanks to the love I receive from many people and the love and service I strive to give every day.”
She contrasted her expectations of consecrated life with what she has experienced over the past quarter-century.
“I thought I was going to be kneeling all day, praying before the Blessed Sacrament, and that my life was going to be hidden inside the convent,” she said. “Honestly, I do not know where I got that idea from, given that the apostolate of the congregation is education and that it usually requires at least seven hours in the classroom, five days a week.”
“I have witnessed the love of God, whom I adore, every day through the ministry of school teacher, school principal, pastoral work and, presently, vocation director,” she said. “With everything, I have learned that it does not matter how much one does, but how much one loves.
“This approach to life is ultimately a call for everyone,” she said. “Twenty-five years have not been enough to master this art. I fall, rise and keep trusting in God’s faithful love and mercy. Blessed be God!”
