Wilmington nun marks 65 years of service to children, immigrants and God

[AlphaCentauri]

It was the early 1940s in New York City. Marion McGillicuddy, daughter of Irish immigrants, watched her older brother decide to go fight in World War II.

“The youth of the day were inundated with this idea of the Nazis taking over Europe and this pro-American sentiment, and we were ready to make any sacrifice,” she said. “My vocation came from the realization that I had one life and what was I going to do with it? And I couldn’t think of anything I could do better than serving God.”

So just out of high school, McGillicuddy decided to become a nun and entered the Society of St. Ursula, a non-cloistered order founded by Anne de Xainctonge in 1606 in Dole, France, for the purpose of educating young people, women and the poor.

From that decision came more than six decades of service in New York, Colombia, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Rome and Southeastern North Carolina dedicated to the education and advocacy of children and immigrants trying to assimilate into our society.

This month, Sister Marion, as she’s called at St. Mary Catholic Church, celebrates her 65th year of service to God – one of the longest serving nuns in the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. But she wants to make something perfectly clear: She’s not ready to retire. There’s still too much work to be done, she said.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090302/ARTICLES/903021986?Title=Wilmington-nun-marks-65-years-of-service-to-children-immigrants-and-God

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I've been at a retreat center in MN run by the Ursalins

lovely ladies, and a lovely place.

[elshiva]

2. It's one of the more progressive orders.

The foundress was ahead of her time with being non-cloistered and educating young girls.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. The sisters were very sweet

They allowed us to use their chapel for our morning practices. Some mornings, we did zkr and other mornings we did kirtan. Every day, more and more of the sisters would come and sit in the chapel while we did our practices. My husband asked one what she thought of it. Her reply was, "We don't know the words you say, but we know God." :)

[elshiva]

4. That's nice.

:hug:

[SarahJohn]

5. An amazing woman!