MARY QUEEN OF APOSTLES PROVINCE

GRACE-FILLED VISITATION WITH MOTHER MIRIAM

Mother Miriam Cunha Sobrinha, our Superior General came to the Mary Queen of the Apostles Province for her canonical visitation from March 13- May 8. Her first stop was to Waterford, Ireland to visit our three U.S. missionaries and their various ministries. She was greeted with great joy as she arrived in the United States on March 21, and over the course of 7 weeks, Mother Miriam visited with each sister and every ministry across the US Province.

The Sisters of the Mary Queen of Apostles Province are deeply grateful for Mother Miriam’s joyful presence among us. She has graciously shared her listening heart,

Beloved Bronx Ministries Close

compassion and wisdom with our Sisters, and our prayers accompany her now as she soon begins her visitation in Brazil.

Heart Private School nearby in 1935, and Apostles began staffing Santa Maria School, a parish elementary school, in 1951. In 2008, we closed Sacred Heart Private as an elementary school due to declining enrollment and in the same building, opened Sacred Heart Learning Center, a state funded prekindergarten program.

The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have served in the Parish of Santa Maria in Bronx NY, since 1934. We opened Sacred

In February of 2023, the Archdiocese of New York announced the closing of Santa Maria School due to low enrollment and changing demographics. Sacred Heart Learning Center will also close its doors in June of 2023, bringing 89 years of Apostle service in that community to a close.

Through the years may Apostle Sisters have ministered at Santa Maria, Sacred Heart Private and Sacred Heart Learning Center. In addition, we have been blessed with many vocations from that neighborhood. We are grateful to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the many graces He has showered upon us throughout these 89 years, and we hope to be able to continue ministries in the Archdiocese of New York in the future.

His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, has named Sr. Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Ph.D., as the next Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese. She will begin her new role in July 2023.

Sr. Mary Grace currently serves as President of Cor Jesu Academy, our girls’ high school in St. Louis, a position she has held since 2020. She is also a Provincial Councilor for the Mary

Queen of Apostles Province.

“I am honored and grateful for this appointment as Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York and look forward to returning to the archdiocese where I first began my educational ministry as an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” she said.

“I thank God and our congregation for the educational opportunities and variety of missions that have been given to me throughout my vowed life, all of which have prepared me well for this new role. Like all Apostles, it will be a privilege to share the charism of our Foundress Blessed Clelia Merloni with my new colleagues and all those we serve.” We accompany Sr. Mary Grace with our prayers as she begins this important ministry in the Church.