She moved to the United States in 1960 with her family, and soon after entered the Ursuline novitiate in Santa Rosa,California.  After finishing studies at New Rochelle College, NY, Ada was sent to Lima, Peru by the order to work among the poor in the “barriada de Miramar”.  There she became passionate in caring for the dispossessed and building the “kin-dom” of God.

After leaving the convent in 1969, she lived with her family in the United States.  Realizing that she had a continued calling to be an educator and a voice for the underprivileged, Ada Maria moved in 1975 to Rochester, New York where she served in two inner city parishes and became involved in the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC).

Ada Maria earned a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate in Theology from Union Theological Seminary, in New York City in 1990.  At Union, she started her lifelong engagement and leadership in the community of Liberation Theologians. Continuing her commitment to women’s issues, she coined the term Mujerista theology to make explicit the Latina voice in Feminist Liberation Theology.

In 1991, Ada Maria became a professor of Ethics and Theology at Drew University, Madison, NJ from where she retired in 2009. Students were very fond of her and described her as someone who was a demanding teacher, fair, honest and passionate. While at Drew University, she co-founded the Hispanic Theological Institute for training of Hispanic Theologians.

She was a prolific writer, completing eight books, and many scholarly articles.  Her seminal work was Mujerista Theology: a Theology for the 21st Century.

She is survived and remembered by her mother, sisters, and brother, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, her nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, friends and the community of women she mentored and inspired.

Visiting hours will be held at Caballero-Rivero-Woodlawn, 8200 SW 40th Street, Miami, FL from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on May 18, 2012.  A Mass of the Resurrection will be held at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 7377 SW 64th Street,Miami, FL at 2:00 p.m. on May 19, 2012; followed by the internment at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery, 11411 NW 25th St, Miami,FL.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to either:

“We started with an idea– a dream really–and $5 that one of our sisters sent with a note that she was praying for us,” Sr. Eileen remembers. They used the money to buy stamps, and sent off their grant application to Mary’s Pence—at that time little more than an idea itself—after reading about it in the National Catholic Reporter.

“We were so excited about getting the Mary’s Pence grant,” Sr. Eileen recalls. “It gave us confidence that we were on the right track and that our idea had merit.”

“And it gave us inspiration to dream bigger,” Sr. Cheryl adds.

What began with three students in a donated space above a recreation center, tutoring around the thumping of basketballs, grew exponentially over the next year and volunteer tutors were recruited for the intensive program.

Eventually, the center needed more room. After two years, it was relocated to a 15-room vacant rectory, and 10 years later back into the school building the two founders had left to start Mercy Learning Center.

As in many programs that address the needs of the poor, it became clear that more than academics was needed. Spirituality was integral from the beginning and retreats and enrichment programs were added, giving the women experiences that increased their confidence as well as their vocabularies.

Occasionally the center was asked to include men in its successful programming, but always declined. “We created a space where women could feel safe and comfortable. Many of them came from abusive situations, and most had been ridiculed during their schooling, so we knew it took a lot of courage for them to take that first step and come to us. We wanted to preserve that trust.”

That sense of safety and community was tested the morning of September 11, 2001. As Sr. Eileen remembers, “At the request of one of our Muslim students we came together in a wonderful circle, offering spontaneous prayers as the women of God—Muslim, Jewish, Christian. It reminded us how this is Holy Ground.”

Although both founders left Mercy Learning Center 10 years ago to pursue other ministries, the center has continued to grow and thrive under the direction of Jane Ferriera. Like Mary’s Pence, it is celebrating 25 years of grace and hope. You can read more about them at www.mercylearningcenter.org.

Sr. Eileen Boffa and Sr. Cheryl Driscoll

Sr. Cheryl Driscoll currently serves as a reading specialist at St. Catherine Academy, a self-contained special-education program for students from ages 5-21. St. Catherine Academy is run by the Diocese of Bridgeport.

Yesterday, the National Catholic Reporter online published an article about our celebration.  Click here to read the article.

Below we’ve shared some pictures from the event.  You can view the event program by clicking here.

Maureen Gallagher, OP took us back to our roots and re-told the mystical story of our founding.  She reminded us that we are each called to action on behalf of liberation.  You can read the whole story here.

Mary’s Pence grantee Sisters Rising Project of the Stillpointe Theater Collective shared their stories of struggle, healing and hope.  The performers of Sisters Rising are formerly incarcerated Chicago-area women who meet weekly in facilitated workshops focused on developing performance and writing skills.  You can learn more about their work on their website by clicking here.

Edwina Gateley delivered the keynote address and reminded us all to continue to all God to stretch us opening our hearts more fully.  Calling Mary’s Pence, leaven for the world, she reminded us that we each have a unique role in embodying God’s love in concrete and practical ways.

Our closing prayer summarized our hopes and dreams as we move forward as a community:

We look forward to the future in faith and hope,

working for the day when we and all our sisters

no longer have to fit a stereotype,

but are free to use all our gifts

and to share in all the benefits of human life and work.

We look forward to the age of peace,

when violence is banished,

when both women and men are able to love and be loved,

and the work and wealth of our world is justly shared.

We believe that our future depends on us,

but that all the forces of good, love, peace and justice,

all the creative powers of the universe,

work with us to achieve that vision.

May it come soon.

While I can’t remember when I first learned of Mary’s Pence, it had to be relatively early in its formation. I say that because I know it was in the late 90s that Pax Christi Metro New York (PCMNY) was a grateful recipient of a Mary’s Pence grant. By that time, I was already a regular supporter. My familiarity with Mary’s Pence was the reason I was able to recommend applying for the grant. I was Chairperson of the PCMNY Council at the time.

We received the grant to bring our conflict resolution program to women’s shelters that would not otherwise have able to pay for it. The grant enabled us to bring our workshop to 10 shelters. It was a wonderful experience for me to conduct many of those workshops for women whose lives have been so challenged, but who bear such strength and wisdom. Hopefully, the skills our workshop taught were equally valuable for the women, themselves.

A few years after receiving the grant, I was given the opportunity to write a reflection for Mary’s Pence. At that time, Mary’s Pence published reflections by many of its companeras for prayer and study. I was honored to write about my journey to becoming the Director of PCMNY, which came about through an almost mystical sense of calling. David Haas’ song, “You Are Mine,” guided my discernment and the reflection that I composed. Today I continue to be Director of metropolitan New York’s regional chapter of the Catholic peace movement, and I continue to support Mary’s Pence.

The two movements speak to me of what it means to be Christian–to work for peace and social justice as interconnected entities. Both promote life by raising up the dignity of the human person, especially women who can be so badly suppressed at the same time that they can be the true back-bone of their families and communities.

Mary’s Pence is a great source of uplifting stories, hope, and encouragement. Its resources whether for prayer, events like the Lenten Soup Supper, or actions to counter poverty and sexism are excellent in quality and accessibility. I wish Mary’s Pence a very long future blessed with all that is needed to continue to make the world a better place for women and all they affect.

In peace,
Rosemarie Pace

Mary’s Pence Statement of Support for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

April, 28, 20012    Chicago, Illinois

As we celebrate 25 years of funding women and changing lives through Mary’s Pence, we find ourselves appalled by the news of the Vatican’s mandate directed at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The prophetic leadership of women religious birthed our organization based on the gospel values of justice and equality for all. Women religious, and in particular the leadership of LCWR, continue to challenge us to this day to keep alive the vision of Vatican II which defined our church as the People of God.  We give thanks for these women and for their congregations. We say to them: “you have taught us well.”  We pledge our prayers and support as they discern their response to this mandate. Women around the world await the day when we can truly be an inclusive church with justice for all.

For women skilled in the art of survival and resistance,

For women rich in experience

wasting nothing,

yet creating

an artful, useful life.

Common threads bind us:

uncommon women,

uncommon vocations.

Together we re-create the world.

Together, we form a patchwork legacy of justice.

Together . . . we proclaim Jubilee!

Giving thanks as we move forward,

Diann Neu

Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Sheila and Dan Daley of CTA

Sheila Daley, was often found at Maureen Gallagher’s dining room table sharing what she had learned founding the national movement  Call To Action with her husband a few years earlier.  Sheila served on many Mary’s Pence committees and promoted it to a national audience through mailings to CTA members, many who became and remain donors to this day.   In time Sheila would find time to graciously served two terms on the board.  Her involvement during the early years and her passion for the mission of Mary’s Pence helped ease the transition of staff leadership from Maureen Gallagher to Anna Aldave.

Donna Quinn, OP

Donna Quinn, OP, who was serving as the Director of Chicago Catholic Women which she had founded in 1974, and was fresh from helping found Women’s Church Convergence, provided key connections to national women’s movements and networks.  These groups would surface the core of Mary’s Pence supporters, women who held prayer meetings where collections were taken, and led potential grantees to the new Catholic women’s fund.

Patty Crowley

Patty Crowley  hosted the meeting where the idea of Mary’s Pence first surfaced. She and her husband Patrick are credited with founding the popular Christian Family Movement and were invited by Pope to be part of the Papal Birth Control Commission in 1964.  Patty continued to host gatherings of women in her home well into her 80s, and even after her death remains a beacon of light to those who seek to live their faith and their lives fully.  Fr. Andrew Greeley, a longtime friend of the Crowleys, said, “In terms of lay activism, Patty was the most important woman of her time, and CFM was the most important movement of the pre-conciliar church.”

Sean Fox  OSM was a Chicago Attorney active in several local groups. She had met Maureen Gallagher in the 1970s through the Metropolitan Alliance of Sisters and attended prayer meetings at Patty Crowley’s, including the one where the name “Mary’s Pence” was suggested. She was busy starting her own practice after working with Legal Aid and seeing the adverse effects bad divorce settlements were having on women, but took time to provide legal counsel as Mary’s Pence became a non-profit organization.  She remained legal counsel for Mary’s Pence for more than 10 years.

Mary's Pence grants recognized women's ministries in all its facets.

Mary’s Pence was part of a larger trend in the 1980s to establish women’s funds. With the increased feminization of poverty, many were questioning the “trickle-down” theories that gave preference to those already in power. Women’s funds were a way to bypass foundation and government funding which traditionally saw women’s concerns as secondary, or even unimportant.  Funds set up by women, for women, meant that issues could be addressed directly and immediately without having to justify their worth.

As the first Catholic women’s fund, Mary’s Pence had other goals as well.  It sought to elevate spirituality in social change. In that vein, it strove to be a clear alternative to corrupt bureaucracies that stockpiled money while people starved.  “The money is needed now,” they reasoned against creating an endowment. “It’s wrong to hold onto it. And if we give it away it will come back to us.”  It would come back not only in increased donations, but more importantly, in increased recognition of women as valid ministers on behalf of the Church.

By the summer of 1988 more than 70 inquiries had been received for grant applications, testimony to the great need. The board discussed how the $26,000 they had collected for grants would be distributed. Fresh in everyone’s mind was the story that had launched the idea in the first place: women running a successful prison ministry being told, “You are doing a great job, but there is just no money to help you expand.” Now there would be money.

But perhaps not enough money to grant every request. The focus had to be narrowed beyond supporting Catholic women ministering with the poor who did not have access to traditional sources of funding. Since the intent was to go beyond charity and emergency funding, priority was given to creative new ministries that had the best hope of transforming the status quo. Educating lay women to become ministers was seen as an important part of that structural change.

One-time grants between $500-$3,000 were given to 23 projects and women that first year. Among them were domestic violence and spirituality centers, immigrant outreach, and places of hospitality for women who were pushed to the margins. Many of those early organizations still flourish to this day.

The table had been set. And true to the Gospel message at the heart of the mission, all women would have a place, but poor women would be served first.

I knew about Mary’s Pence from an NCR article and fell in love with its founding story, so simple and creative. After that, I began looking for their booth at conferences.  I became a Mary’s Pence “groupie” and at some point was bold enough to volunteer my services as a Board member should I ever be needed.

I remember being proud of their study grants which enabled Catholic women here and abroad to complete their college education.  I knew that by helping women complete their social service degrees and degrees in theology, they would help shape the future.

I also remember on-going discussion about continuing to fund ministry projects of religious women. Shouldn’t their congregations be supporting them?  The reality of new ministries – sister founded, sister led—was occurring across the country, as was the dialogue within congregations about how to honor the desire of sisters to be engaged in more “hands on” ministry vs. traditional institutional-sponsored ministries.

Most of all from my term on the Board, I remember the wonderful women with whom I served. Gilda Larios was brand new with me.  Kitty was coming in from Nicquaraga and casting her magical spell on us whenever we met.  Mary Howard and Doris Klein brought their skills, ministry experience and wisdom to the group. We were good together.  We visited the Ursuline ministry in Brownsville, TX, my first experience of life on the boarder. And we met in New York for strategic planning. Karen was expecting her baby boy; the staff was expanding; the mission was deepening. Mary’s Pence was on its way into the future.

Today the ESPERA Funds support many more networks of women, strengthening bonds and promoting sustainability and effective change over a much broader space on the map!  Mary’s Pence continues to be deeply committed to providing funds to those who do not have access to grant, Church or foundation sources, certainly faithful to its niche and a tribute to the Founding Vision. We are indeed “funding women and changing lives.”  I continue to be a Mary’s Pence groupie.

Currently, having completed two terms in leadership in my congregation, I am presently serving as coordinator/consultant for a group in Cleveland working through a planning grant for leadership training of young adults. The program being developed aims to form a new generation of leadership for faith-based non-profits in our area.