Following is an excerpt from the homily written and delivered by Mary B. Flaherty, RSCJ, ’49: This passage, taken from today’s first reading, shouted to me of the life and tireless ministry of Sister Virginia McMonagle. Born in Roslyn, Wash., on August 9, 1921, to George and Rose Virginia Tierney McMonagle, Virginia was the oldest of three children. After the family moved to Seattle, the children attended school at Blessed Sacrament Parish, and the two girls went on to graduate from Forest Ridge. Virginia attended the San Francisco College for Women for one year before entering the Society of the Sacred Heart at Kenwood in Albany, N.Y. After her first vows, in 1943, she returned to Forest Ridge to teach in the Junior School until her final profession, made at our Mother House in Rome in February 1949. She and her sister, Marguerite, who that same month had pronounced her first vows, returned together to Forest Ridge to teach in the Elementary and Junior Schools. In 1963, Mother McMonagle — or “Mother Mac,” as she was often affectionately called by the students — was appointed mistress general of our school in El Cajon, Calif. That was a role she loved and where she excelled. She made a tremendous impact on the students and their families and followed them faithfully long after they had graduated. She exercised this position [mistress general] for 14 years, both there and at Forest Ridge from 1963 until 1965 and again from 1971 to 1977. Between the two latter stints, she served as superior of the community. Virginia never really enjoyed being superior, as her heart remained with the students. However, two events highlight her impact in that capacity. She began the Forest Ridge Auction, which today continues to benefit our students. And she obtained permission from the mother general and her council to search for a new and larger site for the school. It had outgrown its beautiful home on Interlaken Boulevard with no possibility of expanding on the existing campus. In 1966, this magnificent property in Bellevue, with its pristine land and magnificent view atop Somerset, was purchased. First as superior, then again as mother general, Virginia oversaw the design and construction of the new campus and in 1971 made the move of the school onto its present site. The year 1977 brought closure to that phase of her life, and after a year of sabbatical in England she returned to Southern California. Dr. Arthur Hughes, the first lay president
at the University of San Diego, offered her the position of events coordinator. As such she organized all his meetings and special events. At this same time, she worked with the former students of El Cajon to ease the pain from the closing of their school and bonded them into a strong and vibrant alumnae group. In 1988, she began the second important phase of her life — her first trip to Haiti. She immediately fell in love with the people, especially the numerous abandoned and terminally ill children begging on the streets. Using her unfailing charm and powerful writing skills to contact her friends, Virginia raised funds to construct both an orphanage and a hospital. There, these children received the first real love and care they had ever known. Haiti became her second home and where she seemed happiest and most fulfilled. Virginia’s strong attraction to the missions dated back to her years in Blessed Sacrament Parish, staffed by the Dominicans, where the seed was sown. Dominican Fr. Hofstee went to work on Molokai among the [leprosy patients] at a time before penicillin and other wonder drugs offered a cure for that dread disease. While at Forest Ridge, she organized clothing and toy drives for the benefit of these [patients]. All would be packed and sent on its way by the students. Thus the missions and their needs became a reality for [the students], and it is many of those same students who later rallied most generously to support her work in Haiti. But wherever or whatever her other involvements might be, at no time did Virginia ever forget her wonderful friends in Seattle. How many of us were recipients of her beautifully penned notes? These later evolved into often ragtag missives written on Sr. Virginia McMonagle in 2012.
anything she could find: a Halloween card at Christmas or a Valentine at Easter. But they kept coming! How those words touched those who received them — [whether] they [were] a simple greeting to stay in touch, words of encouragement, comfort in a sorrow, rejoicing in a birth or wedding — all were full of interest in the recipients and their families. In later years, when one went to see her, she was always avid for news of her dear Forest Ridge friends. A piece of her heart always remained in the Northwest. So many scripture passages come to mind as I reflect on Virginia’s life. “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” (Luke 18:16) And “Whatever you did for the least of my people, you did for me.” But especially, “Come ye blessed of my Father, for when I was hungry, when I was thirsty, when I was naked, you fed Me, gave Me to drink, clothed Me...For whatever you did to these my little ones, you did unto Me.” (Matthew 25: 40) There are many more passages one could quote, but all are aptly summed up in these words from today’s second reading: “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live in the Lord, and if we die, we die in the Lord.” (Romans 14:7-9) Today we celebrate the lifelong and far reaching gift of herself by a tireless and valiant woman. How blessed we all are in her: her love, her life and her ministry. How fitting it is that Father Foster, who she hired to teach at Forest Ridge, celebrates her memorial liturgy in the beautiful Chapel of the Sacred Heart, which, at the time of the School’s centenary, was lovingly dedicated in honor of Virginia McMonagle, RSCJ. May she rest in peace.
SPRING 2013
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