“God Journeys With Us”
The Diocese of Raleigh welcomes the return of the Immaculata IHM Sisters
On a Wednesday in mid-July, a U-Haul truck outside the former rectory at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Raleigh signaled the return to the Diocese of five women Religious from a Congregation that previously served in the Diocese from 1977-1996: the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) of Immaculata, PA.
The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Raleigh, had announced the return of the Order in the spring. “Our sisters, who missioned in North Carolina, had a wonderful experience and our community is excited about coming back,” said Sister Lorraine McGrew, General Superior of the Congregation.
The IHM Order was founded by a young Redemptorist missionary priest, Father Louis Florent Gillet, in Monroe, Michigan, in 1845. In 1858, as the Congregation grew in size and renown, it was invited by Bishop (and later Saint John Neumann) to serve in the Diocese of Philadelphia; and in 1871, a new foundation was established in the newly formed Diocese of Scranton, PA.
The five women Religious who arrived in July are Sister Rose Marie Adams, Sister Laura Teresa Downing, Sister Mary Margaret Filan, Sister Helene Therese McGroarty, and Sister Mary Agnes Ryan. NC Catholics interviewed them just prior to their arrival in Raleigh.
Sister Rose Marie Adams
Sister Rose is serving as Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Raleigh. She is from Northeast Philadelphia, PA, and is the oldest of seven children. In 1965, her music director at Little Flower High School invited her to become a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After discernment and prayer, she entered the community. “In 1975,” Sister says, “to my great joy, my natural sister Margie also entered the IHM sisters. Today she is principal of an elementary grade school outside Philadelphia.”
Sister Rose feels very blessed and grateful to have taught in elementary schools for twenty years in grades one, four, seven and eight. For the next ten years she was principal of a grade school in Penndel, PA and then in Virginia Beach,VA. She held the position of Director of Religious Education for three years, and worked for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the area of Adult Faith Formation during the next seven years.
Sister Rose is also a certified spiritual director and enjoys giving retreats and workshops and assisting people in experiencing and deepening their faith and love of God. “One of the high points of ministry for me,” she says, “has been preparing children to receive the sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation. These sacraments not only brought the children closer to Jesus, but also inspired whole families to appreciate and grow in their faith.”
Recalling the Sister who invited her to join the IHM’s, Sister Rose hopes as she ministers in Raleigh to invite many young women to consider a vocation to the Religious life and to the IHM's. Sister brings the conviction to her new ministry that all people are loved by God, and that we can all radiate the face of Jesus Christ in our every day work, family and church: “I deeply believe in the Spirituality of Everyday Life, meaning that all life is holy.”
Sister Laura Teresa Downing
Sister Laura will be teaching freshman and sophomore Theology at Cardinal Gibbons High School.
Sister grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, in what she calls “a typical Irish Catholic family. Our family life revolved around family meals, Irish dance, soccer and parish events. I attended both Catholic and public schools until enrolling at Immaculata College (University) where I earned a BA in Theology and Education. I recently completed a MA in Religious Studies – Scripture at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in PA.”
Sister says she did not have any serious thoughts of Religious life until she began her first year of college. “At Immaculata, though, I was so taken by the Sisters’ joy and prayerfulness that I shortly found myself entertaining thoughts of a religious vocation.” While a student, she visited the Sisters’ missions in South America. “It was such an awesome experience of service and community living that I knew that Religious life and in particular the IHM’s were right for me.” Sister entered the Community after her junior year. She is preparing to make her final vows in August 2009.
Since her profession, Sister Laura has taught middle school math and religion at St. Peter’s Elementary School in Reading, PA and freshman and sophomore Theology at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA. “My only goal for my time at Cardinal Gibbons,” Sister says, “is to lead my students to better know, truly love and to desire to serve Jesus. I am thrilled to be joining the faculty of Cardinal Gibbons and the other Religious of the Diocese of Raleigh!”
Sister Mary Margaret Filan
Sister Mary Margaret was born in East Orange, NJ, and raised in Virginia in a family of eight children.
“I felt the call to Religious life in my heart when I was very young,” she says. “I just knew that God was calling me. Of course, I joined the IHM’s, who were my teachers. They attracted me by their prayerfulness, joyful spirit, creative hope and loving service (which I now recognize as our ‘charism’, but I didn’t know it then). I was also drawn to our South American missions, a ‘vocation within a vocation’ for me.”
Sister has taught elementary and secondary students and done Pastoral Ministry in both the United States and in Peru and Chile. In Raleigh, she will minister at St. Bernadette Church in Fuquay-Varina.
“My goal at St. Bernadette,” Sister says, “is to work together with the parishioners to deepen consciousness about the Mass, the treasure of our Faith; and the importance of spending time adoring Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I will also help with Adult Faith Formation and share my keyboard talent with the Hispanic choirs.”
Asked about the convictions she brings to ministry, she does not hesitate. “I believe that we are in God’s Hands; this is His work. He is the Vine and we are the branches.
“Jesus is present for us until the end of time in the Eucharist; He guides us by His Word.
“We form the Body of Christ, offering our talents to serve Christ and each other. Each person has gifts and also untapped potential for good. And God continues calling men and women to His ministry.”
Finally, “Faith formation is of utmost importance for the future of our families, church and country.”
Sister Helene Therese Mc Groarty
“I am a proud daughter of Tamaqua, a small mining town in the heart of the coal mining region of Pennsylvania,” Sister Helene says. “The seeds of my religious vocation were nourished, first of all, by the example and deep faith of my parents and extended family. Through many sacrifices of our Catholic community I attended Catholic grammar school and high school.
“The joyful service of the IHM sisters in these formative years allowed those seeds to blossom into a religious vocation. I felt called in my heart to be a missionary and discovered that as an IHM I could be teacher and missionary.”
Sister Helene has served in the U.S. as teacher and pastoral minister, and ministered for thirty years in Peru and Chile.
“My missionary experiences of the past have taught me that God journeys with us,” Sister Helene says. Sister is assigned to St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Cary, “where, in conjunction with Msgr. O'Connor, we are looking into the various ways in which I can be of service to the parish community.”
Sr. Mary Agnes Ryan
Sister Mary Agnes is assisting Father John Forbes as a Pastoral Associate at Our Lady of
Lourdes Parish. Born in Deadwood, SD, she moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia at age five. She is the oldest of 3 children. Two of her uncles were priests and several older cousins who were Religious Sisters. “All of this,” she says, “along with my parents’ Irish Catholic home environment, nourished my vocation.”
Sister taught in parish elementary schools for seventeen years and was a Parish Director of Religious Education for twelve years in three different parishes in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She then served for seven years as Diocesan Director of Elementary Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Most recently she was on the staff of the IHM Ministry Center as the Director of Religious Education.
Asked to name the high point of her years as a Sister, she said, “Each mission had one! Wherever the Lord has called, I have gone and He has blessed me.
“Now, after forty years of involvement in Religious Education, Sacramental Preparation, Faculty Retreats and In-services / workshops / courses, I feel God is inviting me to move into a more pastoral dimension of ministry. I look forward to whatever will be part of my Raleigh mission experience.”