The vision of Mary Josephine Rogers continues to inspire and take root a century after she founded the Maryknoll Sisters on January 6, 1912. Maryknoll Sisters first arrived in the Philippines in 1926, under Rogers’ guidance, to establish the St James Normal School in the Manila suburb of Malabon. In the decades that followed, the Sisters built additional schools and hospitals. Their journey from the group’s origins in Roxbury, Massachusetts, under the tutelage of Father James Anthony Walsh, continues to shape society and serve the Church. At a Mass commemorating a century of service by the Maryknoll Sisters on January 7, Fr James Ferry MM praised the dedication and accomplishments of Mary Rogers and the congregation. “The sisters came to this country just as God’s people in the Old Testament had gone on a journey across the desert, having God with them as a pillar of fire or as a cloud. And they invited Filipino women to join them in mission,” Fr Ferry said at the Mass, hosted by Miriam College, formerly called Maryknoll College. The Maryknoll Sisters was founded on the principal of creating a society and a congregation that would sincerely try to live out the mandate to bring the Good News of salvation to others, Fr Ferry said. More than 40 years after their arrival, Maryknoll Sisters established a Catholic school in the predominantly Muslim town of Dulawan (now Datu Piang) in Maguindanao in 1964. “They have left but the people are still very fond of them because they helped during the war in the 1970s, a time when they were with the people,” said Sr Linda Hisug OND, who attended the Mass. She added that the “American bread” introduced by one of the sisters remains a speciality in Datu Piang. The Sisters’ journey to the southern Philippines also brought students from the then Maryknoll College, who would sacrifice a month of summer vacation to conduct socio-economic surveys in the parishes. “My elder sister joined for the Mission Board,” said Emelina Soriano-Almario, a member of the board of trustees of Miriam College and an editor who taught English at the college after her graduation. Over the course of 86 years, Maryknoll Sisters from the Philippines have been sent abroad to Indonesia, Japan, East Timor, China, Hong Kong and Myanmar. It is common practice for the congregation to send newly professed sisters to countries other than their own, said Sr Nenita Tapia MM. “The love of the Lord given to us in baptism has been brought down in a very radical way by the Maryknoll Sisters,” Fr Ferry said in his homily. “These wonderful sisters have laid down their lives in many ways. We pray that the journey will continue until the whole of creation and the face of the earth will be renewed.”
