Sisters Thanked for Service to Needy, Arts, Educating Whole Person

Excerpt from an article by Ed Langlois in the Catholic Sentinel,
October 21, 2009.

As the line of 140 sisters processed, the congregation broke into spontaneous applause.

That’s not standard operating procedure for a Catholic Mass, but it was fitting. During their 150 years in Oregon, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary often have surpassed expectations.

"We came in 1859 to start the first distant mission of our community. We’re still here," Sister Joan Saalfeld said Sunday during an anniversary Mass held in the University of Portland sports dome.

In 1859, a dozen young Sisters voyaged 7,000 miles by land and sea from Quebec, docking at Fort Vancouver. Portland was a frontier town with few women and fewer Catholics. No matter; the women had come to help anyone, whatever the creed.

Piano in tow, the Sisters opened a school within weeks. St. Mary’s Academy is still in operation.

The women began teaching in other Northwest cities, beginning their abiding focus on service, the arts and educating the whole person.

They nursed epidemic victims, fought for labor rights and played a key role in a Supreme Court case saving Catholic education. They built a college during the Great Depression and by the 1960s embraced the Second Vatican Council, recognizing the role of the laity and launching social justice ministries.

The liturgy included dance, banners, a huge choir of St. Mary’s students and the ringing of a long-lost heirloom. The sisters returned a 149-year-old bell to the leaders of St. Mary’s Academy. The hefty artifact had been stored at Marylhurst University for years after a new high school building went up downtown. But soon it will be on display again at its old home.

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