Mid-century Arizona was a boomtown of growth in industry, population and cultural institutions. Enter four Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and a 75-year legacy of making known God’s goodness was born there too.
Recently, many Sisters joined their friends in the Phoenix area to reflect on the work and impact of ministries in Arizona, from the cities to the ranches to the reservations. More than 150 guests attended the Mass, reception and luncheon at the Biltmore Hotel on February 23, 2025. For all, it was a look back at how the Sisters shaped the course of Catholic schools and religious education in the Phoenix area and beyond.
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Sister Mary Lucille, SNDdeN, leads a junior high geography lesson in 1953. |
THE FOUNDATION: THE 1950s
Missioned to Glendale, Arizona, at the request of Reverend Charlie Towner, four Sisters arrived by train in their black habits and veils on a blistering August day in 1950.
Their assignment was to staff the school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The doors opened only weeks after their arrival when more than 120 students in grades 1-3 were greeted by Sister Mary Lucille (Marie Tarpy), the principal and Superior, and Sisters James Marie (Marie Hoelle), Ignatius Marie (Catherine Wulftange) and Eleanor Frances (Mary Egger).
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Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Paula Marie Becker (left) and Dorothy Stang stopped en route to Glendale in 1953. The Phoenix area was part of the diocese of Tucson until 1969. |
The Sisters’ efforts were so successful that just three years later, they were invited to Most Holy Trinity Parish in Sunnyslope to teach grades 1-6 at the parish school. To staff the new location, more Sisters came from the Ohio Province. Sister Angelina Wald was the principal and Superior, and Sisters Ann Timothy (Ruth Ellen Evers), Paula Marie Becker and Mary Joachim (Dorothy Stang) joined her on this adventure.
“We felt like real missionaries as we boarded the train and arrived three days later in Glendale, Arizona,” Sister Paula Marie once wrote. “A whole new and wonderful world opened up to us! I was fascinated by the desert, the mountains, the grapefruit grove next to the school, the sand and tumbleweeds which were the playground, the road runners which we saw often in our yard and the tarantulas and scorpions which we saw only occasionally — but enough to satisfy me!
“I think I can speak for all four of our group when I say we loved the early years in Arizona. They were fun, invigorating, and adventuresome for us.”
In 1955, Sister Mary Lucille welcomed the community's first postulant in Arizona, Sister Maria
Celia Molina, SNDdeN. Maria's desire for religious vocation was recognized and confirmed by Father Eugene Lafitte, who introduced her to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was 18 years old.
“My dad interrogated me about why I wanted to join, and what this order was all about,” says Maria. “After he was finished, he said, ’OK, you may go.’ I needed that, because without his permission, I could not have joined.” She became a second grade teacher and later a respected instructor in the formation of Catholic Hispanic leaders with the Phoenix Diocese
and elsewhere.
THE 1960s
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Outside the classroom, Sisters had a dedicated weekly ministry to migrant families at the local "ranchers." Pictured in the back: Sister Marguerite Julie, SNDdeN, in 1956. |
The work continued to accelerate in the next decade as more parishes were added to the Sisters’ responsibilities.
They served the community in other ways as well. Sister Margaret “Mag” Campbell, SNDdeN, particularly enjoyed visits to the Juvenile Detention Center where she prepared inmates for First Communion.
Each week, Sisters also visited the nearby migrant camps to teach the children and to practice speaking Spanish with the mothers.
According to Sister Paula Marie, “At first, our main objective was to teach the children in their Catholic faith, to show the people that they were, indeed, members of the Catholic Church about whom we cared very much. Our contact with the migrant families gradually made us more and more aware that social justice was an arm of education — and we could not do one without the other.
"Our Contact with the migrant families gradually made us more and more aware that social justice was an arm of education — and we could not do one without the other." —Sister Paula Marie Becker, SNDdeN
“One of our goals was to empower the people and bring them to a realization of their true worth.”
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The Arizona community poses circa 1960 in the more comfortable and suitable gray habits. |
Many involved in this ministry have said those experiences outside the formal classroom
were the most memorable. Sister Angelina Wald once recalled: “How darling they [the migrant children] were — friendly but somewhat shy. They didn’t know what to make of us! We went to the areas where the migrants worked and lived. There was no classroom (of course!) for us to use, so we all sat on crates in the field. They were eager to learn from us.
"Life in Arizona was the best time of my life."
Sister Maureen Sweeney, SNDdeN, arrived in Arizona in 1967 and spent 18 years in ministry there. She once shared, “One memory that I cherish is the small child [in a migrant camp] who saw me approaching; he was very happy to see me and ran to his mother saying, ’Mama, Mama, here comes the Church!’ ”
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Visits to the Grand Canton were a special treat for the Sisters. Pictured: Sister Agnes Immaculata, SNDdeN, in 1970. |
Sisters also had permission to enter the Navajo reservation to instruct the children of Catholic
families living there. Over the years, they visited other tribes as well, such as the Pima Indians and Pima-Maricopa Indians.
By 1964, Sister Dorothy Stang was principal at Most Holy Trinity, where 500 children were enrolled, and Superior of 11 Sisters. The school year 1965-66 was her last before volunteering for the mission in Brazil.
Her close friend, Sister Paula Marie, said, “For Sister Dot, the Arizona years led her to push
forward in a strong desire to work with the marginalized and the poor and certainly laid the
foundation for her future work in Brazil.”
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Many Sisters thrived under the Arizona sun, where their efforts to build the Catholic community and educate for life in the Phoenix area were impactful over the course of more than seven decades. Photo taken in 1985. |
Dorothy’s heart for indigent families was as wide as the world, and it was a calling that, almost 40 years later, led to her martyrdom. Today, she is the first woman from
the United States to have her relic enshrined in the Sanctuary of the
New Martyrs in Rome.
THE 1970s
By the 70s, Sisters were permitted to use their baptismal names and to exchange their habits for modest street clothes. What never changed was their mission to make known God’s goodness in Arizona. Dozens of Sisters worked in day care centers at Catholic Charities and in parishes, health care facilities and schools. Their numbers also grew as more women joined the Congregation, some through the Associates program. Other Sisters moved from Ohio to the Grand Canyon State. Sister Olivia Pacheco, SNDdeN, joined after meeting the Sisters through their pastoral work in her hometown of Sonoyta, Mexico.
Sprinkled in with their ministries, they also went on adventures.
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In the 1990s, friends of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (back row) visited the Guadalupe House in Mesa, Arizona. Front row, left to right: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Pat Pieper, Geri Bolzan and Dolores Litner. |
Sister Nancy Wellmeier, SNDdeN, recalls one summer when a small group of Sisters traveled in the back of Father Jerry Yeager’s pickup truck for a five-hour drive to the Grand Canyon rim at Peach Springs. They spent the first night in the truck with their bedrolls, then hiked the Havasupai Trail, camped out for four days and interacted with the Native American community.
“I will never forget seeing the unbelievable blue water at Havasu Falls,” says Nancy. “The canyon and all its beauty — that was God’s gift to us in Arizona.”
THE 1980s
Sister Dorothy “Dottie” Deger, SNDdeN, is an 18-year veteran of Arizona ministry. Her most
meaningful assignment was the five years she spent as parish administrator at San Martin de Porres Parish in south Phoenix where she “ran everything except [administering] the sacraments.”
“I loved the whole Hispanic culture,” she says. “The people of that parish were just wonderful. They gave me life.”
Dottie describes one aspect of her work as placing people into the ministries where help was
needed. She remembers one Filipino parishioner who wanted to get involved, so Dottie asked if she would take Holy Communion to shut ins.
“This woman had never been inside the home of someone living in poverty,” Dottie remembers.
“It opened her eyes and changed her life.”
THE 1990s
Sister Pat Pieper, SNDdeN, was featured in the Winter 1994 issue of “Cross Currents” for her work as a Catholic chaplain at Arizona State Hospital in Phoenix. With a master’s degree in pastoral counseling, she worked closely with court-ordered patients who were managing a variety of life histories, experiences and mental health diagnoses. Separately, she worked in a group setting with women who had suffered childhood trauma and abuse.
In both ministries, she says her role was simply to be present and to listen:
“Those patients needed someone to recognize them as individuals — as humans who still had goodness in them. You can’t cure everything or solve all their problems, but I helped them come to new insights about themselves and their experiences.”
MINISTRY TODAY
Fast forward to 2025. While the Sisters in Phoenix are no longer full-time teachers, they continue to impact the community in a number of essential ways.
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Each month, Sister Meg Walsh, SNDdeN, organizes volunteers to work alongside neighbors building homes with Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona. Their service helps bring hope and stability to families in the community. |
Sister Meg Walsh, SNDdeN, has been involved with immigrant welcome services in Phoenix for three years. The future of these programs is currently in limbo, but she’s not idle in the meantime.
Meg ministers through the Justa Center to seniors experiencing homelessness, especially those who have recently transitioned from unhoused to housed. On her weekly check-in visits, she brings groceries and cheerful greetings. She is also engaged in vocation ministry, inviting young women to deepen their spirituality and to consider religious life.
Sister Sarah Cieplinski, SNDdeN, ministers as an in-home care provider.
“The biggest impact I see with this work is a better quality of life,” she shares. “My clients need dailysupport to complete activities that many people take for granted. I foster a graceful and good presence to serve the people I encounter every day.”
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While in Phoenix for the 75th celebration, Sisters, Ohio Province staff and volunteers spent a morning beautifying the grounds at Most Holy Trinity Catholic School where the Sisters once taught. Pictures are Susie Wittig (left) and Sister Nancy Wellmeier, SNDdeN. |
Sister Liane Delsuc, SNDdeN, of the U.S. East-West Province is closely involved with multiple nonprofits in the Phoenix area that serve people seeking asylum in our country and refugees already resettled in the U.S. A sample of her work includes teaching English as a second language and sorting and distributing clothing and household goods.
The Sisters certainly have secured a place in the history of Arizona, just as Arizona remains in the hearts of the Sisters.
Sister Paula Marie once reflected, “I’m not sure if the Sisters of Notre
Dame ‘tamed the West,’ but I am sure that our contributions had, and continue to have, lasting effects on many children and adults.
“For me, they have provided wonderful memories, lasting friends, and a great sense of accomplishment."
Many Sisters attended the celebration of SNDdeN Arizona ministries. Pictured left to right: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Meg Walsh, Pat Pieper, Donna Jurick, Kristin Matthes, Nancy Wellmeier, Dottie Deger, BJ LeTourneau, Rebecca Trujillo, Carmen Silva. Seated: Sister Liane Delsuc, SNDdeN. Not pictured: Sister Sarah Cieplinski, SNDdeN.
With gratitude to Sister Mag Campbell, SNDdeN, for the resource material found in her 2000 account of Arizona ministries.
Written by Tami McMann. First published in the Cross Currents Magazine, Spring 2025, Volume 21, Issue 1.