Sr. Mary of Victory Lewis
The first social services center in San Antonio was initiated in 1940 in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in San Antonio, led by Sr. Mary of Victory Lewis (pictured).
Sr. Rosalia Montes
In the 1950s, Sisters in Mexico opened and operated social service centers in Mexico City and other cities. The centers provided clinics, but the Sisters also taught business classes, sewing, and religion.
Sr. Rosalia Montes (center, with blue shawl, wearing glasses) worked in Oaxaca.
Sr. Ofelia Lozano, Santa Fe
In 1973, Sisters in Mexico started a new form of ministry called Pastoral Popular. Sisters sought out, lived with, and ministered to the underserved, focusing on daily contact with the people at their work and in their homes. Here, Sr. Ofelia Lozano visits a parishioner in Mexico City.
Sr. Tere Fer Chapantongo
Pastoral Popular serves indigenous people in remote parts of Mexico. The first pastoral communities were established in the Mezquital Valley and in Cuernavaca, Torreon, Tehuantepec, and Veracruz.
Sr. María Teresa Fernandez was selected as the first coordinator of the Pastoral Popular Communities.
Sr. Luz María with a group
Since 1973, more than 100 Sisters from Mexico have created and served in numerous pastoral communities in Mexico, serving the indigenous, displaced, and underserved. Pictured is Sr. Luz María Aguilar.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
Sister Elizabeth Murray Campbell worked in Cuernevaca, Mexico, with Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos.
Coffee Cooperative
The Cooperativa de Café Tienmelonla Nich Klum, Chiapas, is a coffee cooperative that serves the indigenous people of Chiapas. By cultivating and trading organic coffee, men and women generate income and provide a better quality of life for their families. Pictured is Sr. Dolores María Di Costanzo.
Chiapas
Since the cooperative was founded, hundreds of people have been trained to work in the organic coffee industry. This has a positive impact on nearly 1,500 families.
El Puente
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.
Sr. Margaret Carew
Sr. Margaret Carew spent half her life ministering to inmates at the Bexar County (San Antonio) Jail. In 2010 she was recognized for her 40 years of service—30 as the jail’s first female chaplain and 10 as a volunteer.
Sr. Mary Cunningham
Trained as a clinical psychologist, Sr. Mary Cunningham established a residential center in Limerick, Ireland, for adults with learning disabilities. She worked in San Antonio at the Patrician Movement, a drug and alcohol treatment center, for more than 30 years.
Srs. Eileen Friel, Louise Mair and Peggy Bonnot
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. Rita Prendergast
Sr. Rita Prendergast, after a long career teaching college English, went to Peru. In 1985 she helped establish 1985 the mission in Huancané. She learned Spanish and ministered to prisoners.
Sr. Anne Marie Burke
Pictured is Sr. Anne Marie Burke in Huancané. The area had been abandoned by the Peruvian government, allowing terrorist groups to threaten local residents. The Sisters nonetheless taught and trained catechists, organized programs for the youth, and visited prisoners in jail.
Sr. Rosaleen Harold and family
In 1981, three Sisters opened a mission in Cambio Puente, Peru, where they worked with exploited campesinos on the outskirts of Chimbote. Sr. Rosaleen Harold (pictured holding a baby) was one of the three Sisters who went to Cambio Puente.
Sr. Rosaleen served in Peru for more than 30 years.
Guatemala
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 Gracía.
