Age 87
Sister Theresa dedicated her prayer, time, energy and giftedness to fostering religious life, creating peace, and working for the rights of women and people who are impoverished.
One of seven children, Theresa was born in the Bronx, a child of Irish immigrants, and entered the Sisters of Mercy in Tarrytown, New York, at the age of 19. She held a bachelor’s degree in economics from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, and master’s degrees in public administration from New York University in New York, New York, and in women’s history from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
A natural leader, at the age of 29 she became the chief executive officer of St. Francis Hospital (now part of Bon Secours Community Hospital) in Port Jarvis, New York. After seven years of that ministry, she served in leadership capacities for the New York province of the Sisters of Mercy for 11 years and as president for six years of the Union of the Sisters of Mercy which included nine provinces cross the country and a number of South American countries.
In 1978, she was elected president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). In that capacity, she welcomed Pope John Paul II to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. in 1979 during an internationally televised prayer service and urged the pope to consider the possibility of opening all ministries of the Church to women. She was also the recipient of LCWR’s Outstanding Leadership Award in 2004, the second person to ever receive this honor. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Mercy College (now University) in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
She founded the organization, the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church and appeared in the documentary, “Band of Sisters” and the Public Broadcasting System’s series, “Makers: Women Who Make America.” Her biography, “To Speak the Truth in Love,” was published in 2019. She also was a founding member of the Intercommunity Center for Justice and Peace in New York, New York; a United States representative to the International Union of Superiors General; and a board member and president of the Washington Office on Latin America.
Sister Theresa also ministered as a campus minister at Our Lady of Victory Academy, a financial director at Mount Mercy, a congregational health care center, and as an associate professor of behavioral sciences for 27 years at Mercy College, all three in Dobbs Ferry, New York. In each of these ministries, Theresa’s leadership was marked by love, generosity, inclusiveness, professionalism and compassion for all. Her words were powerful, but her personal example was an exemplary witness to all.