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Mercy Sister Patricia Morrison was born in Trenton to the late John and Pearl Morrison. She attended St. Anthony School and Cathedral High School where she met the Sisters of Mercy. Inspired by their mission and religious way of life, she entered the community upon graduation in 1957, taking the name Mary Georgianna at her reception the following year. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Georgian Court College, now University, Lakewood, and went on to earn a master’s degree in business education from Rider College, now University, Lawrenceville, in 1969, and her certification for principal and supervisor in 1979. She began her ministry in education in Philipsburg Catholic High School teaching business courses for nine years before moving on to Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill. Three years later, she was appointed principal of St. Mary High School, Perth Amboy, for its final year. She would return to Philipsburg as principal and remained in that capacity until 1990. Called to a new ministry, she accepted the position of coordinator at Eatontown’s Spring House, a facility for homeless women and their children. In 1993, she returned to the field of secondary education, this time as vice principal in Holy Spirit High School, Aberdeen, until 2012. Another new ministry opened for Sister Patricia in 2013 when she was asked to become the coordinator for the St. James Convent community of active and retired sisters who witness by their presence and their ministries throughout the greater shore area.
Mercy Sister Kathleen O’HALLORAN
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Sister of Charity Maureen Malone, the former Sister John Immaculate, was born in Elizabeth and is a graduate of the Sisters of Charity Preparatory High School, Convent Station. Sister Maureen entered the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth on March 6, 1957, and began her higher education in Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and a master’s degree in special education. Sister Maureen’s teaching assignments have included St. Francis School, Ridgefield Park, 19591960; Saint Stephen School, Kearny, 1960-1966, and Sacred Heart School, Trenton, 1966-1978. With a strong background in counseling, she has served as a counselor in many outreach programs in the Trenton Diocese including Anchor House, Trenton, which she helped to found, from 1978-1983; TRIAD House, 1983-1989; the Ewing Township Public School System where she was the director of the Alternate Schools program, 19911992; a substance abuse/alcohol and addiction counselor for Mercer County Carrier Clinic, 19921995; and an addictions counselor for Catholic Charities beginning in 1995 as well as a program director for New Choices Adolescence Program. Her other counseling ministries have included Starting Point House, Atlantic City; serving as a social worker for Delaware Boys School and program director for Rainbow Outreach. At present, she is a volunteer counselor with “It Takes a Family” in Cinnaminson.
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Hospital and Helene Fuld Medical Center, Trenton, and went on to McAuley Hall Health Care Center where she continued as a nurse for several years and became a certified activity director. Sister Ethel was a private duty nurse in Pennsylvania for a time before returning to New Jersey to become the activity director at the Allaire Senior Medical Day Care Center. She is in residence in St. James Convent, Red Bank, where she volunteers her services with the St. James Parish Senior Citizen Club and the Bayshore Senior Day Center in Keansburg.
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Mercy Sister Kathleen O’Halloran was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the third of six children in the family of William and Mary O’Halloran and baptized with the name Carol. The family resided in Pitman after her father returned home from World War II. With the encouragement of Bishop William A. Griffin, a family friend, Carol and her four sisters attended Mount St. Mary Academy in Watchung, then a boarding school. Upon graduation in 1957, Carol entered the Sisters of Mercy and at her reception a year later, took Kathleen for her religious name. In 1959, she began her undergraduate studies at Georgian Court College, now University, Lakewood. In 1963, she professed her final vows and graduated from Georgian Court with a major in French. In 1968, she received a master’s degree in French from Vermont’s Middlebury College. MONITOR • JULY 27, 2017
Her first teaching assignment was in Our Lady Star of the Sea Academy, Atlantic City, and she would go on to teach French and Latin in her alma mater, Mount St. Mary Academy, for six years. Sister Kathleen studied at Aquinas Institute in Dubuque, Iowa, in preparation for assuming the role of novice director on the religious community’s formation team. After four years, she accepted the position of coordinator in St. Mary Convent, Perth Amboy, and taught part-time in St. Mary High School, there. She was elected to the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of New Jersey in 1978 and served another term beginning in 1982. Answering a call to serve the poor, she later moved to Scranton to live at the Catherine McAuley House with homeless women and children. There, for three years, she directed the Bridge Housing Program. In 1989, she returned to New Jersey and joined the staff of Project PAUL in Keansburg which is devoted to serving the poor, alienated, unemployed and lonely. There she served as director of client services. Retiring in 2013, she continues to volunteer in the ministry she loves.
Mercy Sister Margaret RUSSELL Mercy Sister Margaret Russell was born to Walter and Josephine Russell in Riverside and attended St. Paul School in Burlington and Trenton’s Cathedral High School where she encountered the Sisters of Mercy. Inspired by the sisters throughout elementary school and high school, she entered the religious life after graduation from the later in 1957. The following year, she took Mary del Rey as her religious name and began matriculating toward a degree in elementary education in Georgian Court College, now University, Lakewood. She later earned a master’s degree in supervision and curriculum at Georgian Court. Her first teaching assignments were in parish schools in the Dioceses of Trenton and Metuchen: St. Elizabeth School, Bernardsville, St. Francis Cathedral School, Metuchen; St. Catherine School, East Keansburg and St. Joseph School, Bound Brook. In 1971, she was appointed principal of St. Charles Borromeo School, Cinnaminson, and served there until 1988 when she was named director of communications for the Sisters of Mercy of New Jersey. The following year, she was appointed principal of St. Francis Cabrini School, Piscataway, and in 1997, principal of St. Mary School, South Amboy. During those years, she received several honors from both Dioceses for excellence in education. In 2001, the focus of her ministry shifted to pastoral services as she became director of religious education in Toms River’s St. Luke Parish where she enjoyed working with children and their parents in Continued on • S7