20 The Catholic News & Herald
June
Living the faith
13,
2003
Four Sisters of Mercy celebrate combined 175 years of service —
BELMONT
Mercy
Sisters
Carmen Cruz, Mary Monica Perez and Mary Andrew Ray are being honored
women
50 years as
for
Mercy
Sister
— combined — with
25 years
and for
175 years of
a
a special anniversary
service
Mass
religious,
Ray Maria McNamara
at St. Gabriel
Church
Charlotte
in
June 21.
Mercy Sister Carmen Cruz (Golden Jubilarian) Mercy Sister Carmen Cruz was born June 16, 1934, in Agafia, Guam. By the sixth grade, she had heard God's call
and when she signed her classmates' yearbooks, she wrote she wanted to be a nun, a teacher and a nurse. "Six years later, at the end of my junior year, I accepted the call and I've served in two of the three ministries and am presently working in a hospital as a chaplain," she said.
In
vent
1952,
Carmen entered
Guam
in
the con-
as a postulant.
Three
weeks later, she was chosen, along with two other postulants, to go to Belmont, North Carolina, for their formation. She graduated from Sacred Heart College with a degree in early childhood education and in 1984 earned a
cate
as
a
certifi-
through
chaplain
Gwynedd-Mercy
Pennsylvania's
College's affiliation with
Mercy
sistant principal, assistant aspirant di-
was Youth Organiza-
rector and vocation co-director, and
Mary's School in Wilmington. She also served as director of Region IV for the National Association of Catho-
tion at St.
Chaplains. Sister
lic
Carmen
later served
as the first female police chaplain with the
Buncombe County
Sheriffs
Department
summers
University of San Francisco at Berkeley, earning her master's degree in the theology of applied spirituality.
at the
Throughout her years as a Sister of Mercy, Sister Carmen points to common threads that connect her journey tli
rough religious
grow
in
life:
a strong desire to
a deeper relationship with God;
Word of God and compassion with others; a passion and enthusiasm for ministry; and faithfulness to her vows. the need to share the
his
Mercy Sister Mary Monica
in Agafia,
Guam. As
was no Catholic school on the ishad no contact with women
there
land, she
religious until three sisters
Guam
in
I
step into a new life by entering the convent in Guam. After graduating from Sacred Heart College in Belmont with a degree in elementary education, Sister Mary
Monica taught at Cathedral Grade School in Agana and Santa Barbara School in Dededo. Over the years, she
taught elementary classes and Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes in Asheville, Charlotte, Wilmington,
Belmont and Concord, cred Heart School in
as well as at Sa-
Long
In 1984, she began a
Island,
new
dedicated the
N.Y.
ministry
and computer
as an assistant librarian
Heart College. Since
assistant at Sacred
1989, she has served as director of com-
puter services at
Vincent de Paul
becoming
a sister
was so new
didn't realize until later that
I
to
could
be both!"
Once the idea of dedicating her life to the Lord dawned on her, she prayed about the possibility until she came to
After earning a bachelor's degree in biology at Clemson University in 1970,
Belmont Abbey College. Between 1958 and 1972, she taught at St. Michael School in Gastonia, Sacred Heart Grade School in Belmont, St. Mary School in Wilmington, Our Lady
religious
at
of the Assumption School in Charlotte and Sacred Heart School in Cutchogue
on Long
Island,
From 1972
N.Y. to 1976, she took time
from teaching to serve as secretary general of the North Carolina Sisters of Mercy. She then ministered as director of Kent Conference Center. Beginning in 1978, she spent her off
summers studying
at St. Michael's Col-
lege in Winooski, Vt, where she earned
challenging.
"Only with God's help can one go through life. As far as I'm concerned, I do all things in the best way I can, and
gram was in 1988, we had
the heart of her 50-year ministry, she
that's all that matters. All for the love
of
said.
Her motto, "Thy
be done," describes not only her personal conviction but also her personal commitment to positively accept
her
all
always keep in mind that God will never let things happen to me that he and I will not be able to "I
handle," she said.
Mercy Sister Mary Andrew Ray (Golden Jubilarian) Hazel Rita Ray was born Jan. 30, 1935, at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, in her
family.
Her family St.
Andrew's of
later
became parishio-
Patrick Church. Sister
first
Mercy was
Charlotte. But
Mary
recollection of the Sisters at it
O'Donoghue School
in
wasn't until later in her
academic career did the idea of becoming woman religious occurred to her. "I was in high school when I realized
a
that
students from 52 different
God was
calling
me
to religious
of at least that was the time
life
when
I
Mary Andrew. She admitted to having doubts
said Sister
about entering the convent, but there was also a strong sense of mystery and discovery permeating her formation years.
was fun getting
know the students and making many lifelong' friends." to
"I
don't have any dreams of
want
still
God
to accomplish in
life,
know what God
life
so
I
but
life,
it
decision to enter
wasn't with the Sis-
ters of Mercy.
She entered the Poor Clare Greenville and-devoted to prayer. Yet, something was
Monastery her
life
in
missing for her.
She left cloistered life in 1975, but almost a year later realized she still longed to give her entire life to God
through prayer and service. She searched for a community to cultivate and found the
this longing,
Sisters of
Mercy Regional Community of North Carolina. It
wasn't long before she learned to
commitment to community, the demands of ministry and her prayer life. balance
She taught science
at parochial el-
ementary and secondary schools
in
Greenville, S.C; Wilmington, Charlotte
and Belmont, N.C.; and New Smyrna Beach, Fla. She later earned a master's in educational leadership and administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. From 1985 to 1992, she taught and served as principal at
Patrick School
St.
and from 1993 to 1996 she
in Charlotte,
served as chairperson of the science de-
what
but
does," she said. "Everyday,
for the grace to
ing me to do in
life.
ners of
Over the 10 years the proexistence, from 1978 to
countries," she said. "It
will
of the happenings in
Ray Maria made her
her master's
vocation, regardless of the calling.
at
Sister Ray Maria McNamara
After graduating with an associate's degree in education, she completed her bachelor's in social studies and education
admits there have been ups and downs in her vocation, just as there are in any
is
allowed myself to face this realization,"
"Because the con-
Sister Mary Andrew Ray
in teaching English as a Second Language for her ministry as cofoundress and subsequent director of the English as a Second Language program at Sacred Heart College. "It was culturally enriching and
St.
Church in Charlotte. Although convinced the Lord
Mary Monica.
cept of
me,
how
first
—
I
sister.
Sister
admired
1952, she took her
were to their calling. But at the had no intention of becoming a I wanted to be a teacher," said
Sisters
time,
to
1946.
really
"I
came
2,
and became the youngest child
Perez (Golden Jubilarian) Margarita Pangelinan Perez was born Jan. 22, 1935,
July
God," she
and the Asheville Police Department. In the late 1990s, she spent
On
Mary
Sister
Monica Perez
her decision.
Catholic
Medical Center. During her early ministry years, she served in the Archdiocese of Guam and in the dioceses of Charlotte, Raleigh and Rockville Center (N.Y.) as a teacher, as-
director of the Catholic
Sister
Carmen Cruz
I
bet
I
pray
is
call-
and for the grace to do
partment
Gaston Day School
at
in
Gastonia. felt another calling: this deepen her educational experience by enrolling in the Graduate Theo-
In 1996, she
time, to
Union
Berkeley, Calif,
where in
it."
logical
Because of her devotion to her God, Sister Mary Andrew has given her church, community, students, friends, family and co-ministers many sweet memories.
1998 she earned her master's in systematic theology. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate working on her dissertation in Christian spirituality. "I
in
Mercy Sister Ray Maria (Silver Jubilarian) Sister Ray Maria was born April 3, 1948, in
S.C Although she
to continue
my research
cism as a
and
spiritual practice
its
rela-
tionship to our current environmental
concerns," she said.
Her motto
Greenville,
and attended school in town, she spent most summers working on the family farm. She was adept at driving farm equipment long lived
before she qualified for her driver's cense.
want
also
the field of spirituality and ecology
focusing on mysticism as well as asceti-
McNamara Mercy McNamara
in
Summers found
li-
her baling hay,
is "Choose life." 'With all of life's twists and turns, ups and downs, I have met God in some of the most amazing ways," she said. "God's presence and faithful love are more real today because I have worked
to choose
life,
as best as
know how."
I
stretching barbed wire fences and at-
tending to the needs of the horses and which encouraged her love of na-
cattle,
Want
to go?
ture.
Her youth wasn't
entirely spent pro-
moting the growth of plants and animals, however; while attending Holy Rosary Elementary School, her desire for God in her life was planted, nurtured, took root and grew.
The
celebration
Mass
10 a.m., June 21 at
Church
in
will follow.
Charlotte.
St.
A
will
be
Gabriel
reception