Age 86
Born in San Francisco, Marilyn grew up in Holy Name Parish and graduated from Mercy High School, where she first came to know the Sisters of Mercy. She entered the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 17 in Burlingame, California.
Before teaching math and religion at Mercy High Schools, she earned a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco College for Women. Sister Marilyn was particularly interested in theology and attended St. Paul University, University of Ottawa, and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, where she completed her doctoral degree in theology. These studies equipped her to teach high school, college, and adult religious education.
She taught religion for 21 years in the San Francisco area at the parish, high school, and college level. For eight years, she served as a religious education consultant for rural parishes for the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky.
She was drawn to a contemplative lifestyle and spent a year at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey then moved to Bardstown, Kentucky, and ministered in local parishes and the diocese. In 2014, she and Genevieve Durcan, OSCO, founded The Laura in Lebanon, Kentucky, a contemplative residence where others could come for retreat and reflection.