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ST. BERNARD'S CONVENT
Sister Mary Lancaster provides religious education, especially for
parents whose children will be receiving the sacraments. She is a member of the
Parish Pastoral Council. Sister Cecilia D'Mello helps
families arrange funerals and supports them in their time of grief. She
coordinates the welcoming of new parishioners. For more information about the Daughters of the Cross, please go to: www.daughtersofthecross.org.uk
Thank you! Thank you!
A PIECE OF OUR HISTORY
The Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross was founded by Blessed Marie Thérèse Haze in Liège, Belgium in 1833. Her childhood and early womanhood were lived against the political upheaval of the French Revolution in so far as it affected Belgium. She experienced the loss of home, loved ones, and possessions and knew what it was to be poor and displaced, to have nothing. Her only security was in God. It was in contemplating the self-giving of Jesus on the cross that she founded the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross to help suffering humanity. During her lifetime she sent sisters to work in schools, hospitals, prisons, homes for “fallen women,” prisoner rehabilitation centers, to nurse in war zones, to take care of people in their own homes, in fact to do any work she felt the Lord was calling Daughters of the Cross to serve Him.
The Daughters of the Cross in Tracy Four Daughters of the Cross came to Tracy in 1958 to open St. Bernard’s School with grades 1-3. They were Sr. Mary Peter (Superior), Sr. Ann Gabriel, Sr. Madeleine Louise, and Sr. Mary Assumpta. Unfortunately Sr. Mary Assumpta was only able to stay for a very short time as she became ill and needed to return to England. Sister Mary Laetitia replaced her. As a grade was added each year an additional sister came till there were 8 grades and 9 sisters. Sr. Martin Mary (Mary Lancaster) came next followed a year later by Sr. Mary Eug ene.
Sr. Maureen O’Brien came in 1969 and Sr. Marlene Jude in 1997.
In 1966 sisters took on catechetical work in the parishes of Angels Camp and San Andreas and lay teachers began to join the school faculty. In 1991 the first lay principal was appointed and just one sister remained on the faculty.
Since 2001 there have been no sisters working in school but we continue to support functions and activities.
The work carried out and the number of sisters have varied over the years and currently there are 4 sisters serving the parish.
Ministries include:
Serving as Special Ministers of the Eucharist, Lectors, and musicians for parish liturgies. “Tracy Sisters” now in England Currently Sr. Norah Friend (Sr. Mary Peter) is in our convent in Cheam, England. Though she finds it difficult to move around, she is very alive and active in the community. Sr. Monica Duckett is being taken good care of in the convent attached to our hospital in Haslemere, England. Though her dementia has become worse, she is very pleasant and happy with our sisters. Sr. Maureen Long is happily settled in our convent in Dublin, Ireland. She is able to see more of her family and enjoys keeping in touch with her California friends via email. |
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