The new Central Leadership Team of the Mission Helpers
of the Sacred Heart was installed on the evening of June
13. I am so pleased that among my first official acts as
president is celebrating with our Sisters, family and friends
at the 2008 Jubilee.
This year, three Sisters celebrate milestones in their
ministries: 70 years' service for Sister Ann Toolan, 60
for Sister Marie Madigan and 25 for Sister Judy Waldt, who
also celebrates the completion of two four-year terms as
president of our Community. It is a privilege and blessing
to walk with these hard-working, strong, faithfilled women.
During the 60s and 70s, Sister Ann Toolan visited people
in their homes conducting what was then called a "census"
of Catholic families in communities. When the census was
complete, Sister Ann and other Mission Helpers taught religion
to the children of those families often in makeshift classrooms
before churches were built and formal parishes were established.
Many of her classes were for deaf children.
Sister Ann was very helpful to me personally when I was
a resident counselor at Boys' Hope, a Jesuit living and
learning program for boys on Staten Island, New York. She
was at our Convent in Manhattan and on my days off I would
go there. She would always greet me, we'd have lunch and
she listened as I told her everything that happened with
the boys during the week. She was such a strong, compassionate
presence she was there for me, she was my life saver.
Sister Marie Madigan, marking 60 years of service, was
also focused on education training lay catechists and conducting
teacher workshops in dioceses in Michigan, South Carolina,
Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and her birthplace, Boston.
For the last 30 years, she has been Director of Religious
Education at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, in Brockton, Massachusetts
still going strong and a blessing to all of us.
Sister Judy Waldt is celebrating 25 years' ministry, and
in those years she has served the people of God in many
ways. She has made an enormous contribution to the Church
and to the Mission Helpers Community. With a degree in Early
Childhood Education, she spent her first years as a Mission
Helper coordinating programs for preschoolers, spending
several years at Annunciation Parish in Altamonte Springs,
Florida, and at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore.
For the last eight years, she has guided our Community
into the 21st century, with all its challenges and promise.
We are grateful for the gift of Judy, who has led us and
shared her many gifts and talents.
The new leadership team will call upon her in the future
for her wisdom and experience. We are equally blessed to
have among us three other former presidents Sisters Joanne
Frey,Mary Ita Hayes and Danielle Murphy all of them continuing
to make invaluable contributions to our Community.
Because of these women, and all the women who have gone
before, we can move forward into the next four years confident
that we can build upon their strengths. As our foundress,
Mary Frances Cunningham, said, "Holiness shall be the
happy lot of those who love God and live by God's spirit.
God's spirit will be ours when we live it in the imitation
of His divine Son. Then it is that we live as true Mission
Helpers of the Sacred Heart, for then God's love holds the
supreme place in our daily lives."
God bless all of you who have stood with the Mission Helpers
over the years. I welcome and will rely upon—your continued
love, prayers and support.
In the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Sr. Loretta Cornell,
MHSH President
1001 West Joppa Road · Baltimore, MD 21204-3787 ·
410.823.8585
1001 West Joppa Road · Baltimore, MD 21204-3787 ·
410.823.8585