Age 80
The words of the Gospel fueled in Sister Rosemary a desire and determination to struggle against whatever threatens human life and well-being.
Born on Long Island, New York, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Dallas, Pennsylvania, at the age of 19. Initially serving as an elementary school teacher in the dioceses of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Rockville Center, New York, she found her true calling as a pastoral counselor following study at Iona University in New York. After several years as a family counselor for Catholic Charities, New York, Rosemary returned to Dallas, Pennsylvania, and became one of the co-founders of the Mercy Consultation Center, a spiritual ministry of the Sisters of Mercy.
As director of the center for nine years, Rosemary offered counseling and spiritual direction and traveled with Sister Maureen McCann offering workshops (affectionally referred to as “vow camp”) to new members of religious communities.
For more than 20 years, she resided and ministered in the Archdiocese of Miami, Florida. She found an outlet for her passionate concerns around immigration, detention of immigrants, and voting rights in her alliance with Catholic Legal Services. Here, her fidelity to the Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy impelled her to fearlessly challenge the powers of the government and, when necessary, the powers of the church.