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August
8, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 14Oakland,
CA
Sisters offer jubilee reflections
50 Years
Sister
Mary Berchmans, SNJM
(aka Sister Rosalie Trentacoste)
Birthplace: Oakland
Religion profession: Feb. 5, 1956
Present ministry: Retired
Past service in diocese: Nurse at Alta Bates Hospital,
Berkeley, and Holy Names College, Oakland
I have always been happy in religious life. The years 1962-1963 were
a turning point. I had read Cardinal Leon Suenens book, “The Nun
in the World,” which examines the life of apostolic women.
It was the first session of Vatican II and I was assigned to our missions
in Lesotho, Southern Africa. On route, I visited Rome and was there when
President John Kennedy was shot. I attended the Mass said for him by Pope
Paul VI. How awesome to see all the Council Fathers and other participants
filling the nave of St. Peter’s Basilica. I always think of this
occasion when I see or hear about Vatican II.
What a sense of being a daughter of the Church it gave me. It was a hopeful,
but hard time politically, to live in Southern Africa in the 60s and 70s.
Lesotho gained its independence from Britain in 1966 and we all worked
hard to improve the conditions of the people through our health and educational
ministries.
In 1980, I returned to California and started to work at St. Anthony Medical
Clinic where I remained for 17 years. We had spent years talking and meditating
about the preferential option for the poor. It was good to live it day
by day in the Third World country and in the San Francisco Tenderloin.
All of this was made possible for me by seeds planted by the Church of
Oakland at Sacred Heart, St. Augustine and Holy Names High School.
Sister
Jeanenne Weis, SNJM
Birthplace: Decorah, Iowa
Religious profession: Aug. 15, 1955
Present ministry: Tutor at the Learning Center, Holy
Names University, Oakland
Past service in diocese: Teacher at several Catholic
schools including Marylrose Elementary in Oakland; assistant to various
depts. at Holy Names College.
After graduating from Holy Names College, I entered the Holy Names
Sisters community in Los Gatos. I had felt since grammar school a strong
desire to serve God as a Sister.
Community life and education have been my focus since I entered. Living
with Sisters who were also teachers was a major influence upon my ministry
in the classroom. I taught with enthusiasm, creativity and confidence
because of the help, advice and praise of my Sisters, and I loved my students.
It gave me great satisfaction to see them progress in their studies, to
share my faith with them and to participate in their activities. I encouraged
the girls to conquer their fear of math and even to enjoy math. I continue
to do that today at Holy Names University as a tutor.
In 1972 I turned to educating adults. I loved pastoral ministry, collaborating
with lay women and men.
Other priests and Sisters celebrating jubilees with
links to the Oakland Diocese:
60 years:
Sister Therese Kohles, SP, an Oakland native who worked
in mission effectiveness at Summit Hospital, Oakland.
50 years:
Sister Joan Litch, SHF, who served many parishes in the
Oakland Diocese including St. Mark, Richmond; St. Jarlath, Oakland; and
St. John, El Cerrito.
Sister Noelita Marie Rodriguez, OSF, former teacher at St. Isidore School,
Danville.
40 years:
Father Thomas Carl Saunders, MM, who graduated from St.
Augustine Elementary School in Oakland and St. Mary’s High School
in Berkeley. A missionary in Mexico since his ordination, he currently
is pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Cuichapa, Moloacan,
Veracruz, which has 15,000 parishioners.
