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September
5, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 15Oakland,
CA
Nun remembered for her ‘life’ work
Holy Names Sister Maureen Webb — professor, bio-ethicist
and founder of Casa Vincentia, a home for single pregnant women in Oakland
— died Aug. 17 at her community’s motherhouse in Los Gatos
after enduring a nine-year bout with Parkinson’s disease. She was
84.
According to Sister Barbara Carroll, community spokesperson, Sister Webb’s
last day was a busy one. It included attending an afternoon party. Shortly
after dinner, at 6:45 p.m., the gentle octogenarian died unexpectedly
and peacefully.
Sister Webb, a native of Los Angeles, was born Nov. 21, 1921. She made
her first vows with the Holy Names Sisters in 1940. The young nun taught
at a number of schools in the Bay Area, including Sacred Heart School
in Oakland, Marin Catholic High in Fairfax, and Holy Names High in Oakland,
before going to St. Louis University in 1962 to work on a master’s
degree in biology.
Studies there set the stage for her life’s work. Theology and science
began to come together for the nun. As Sister Webb recalled, “It
was a wonderful time. The Second Vatican Council was about to begin. The
clerical grapevines were absolutely amazing. Ideas were growing as fast
as bacteria. DNA recombinations pale in variety when contrasted with the
intellectual ferment …about the coming changes.”
In 1971, Sister Webb was invited to teach biology at Oakland’s Holy
Names College (now University). During an embryology class, she discovered
that some of her students believed abortion was acceptable if a woman
was facing a difficult pregnancy.
At that point, Sister Webb realized that questions about reproductive
freedom and sanctity of life were “complicated issues that needed
more than pat answers. How to help students to wrestle with these problems
…became a challenge for me. It changed the direction of my teaching
and eventually my ministry.”
As she watched the bitterness continue to grow between pro-life and pro-choice
factions, Sister Webb asked permission to study bioethics in hopes of
helping students engage in civilized debates and develop a strong sense
of values. She enrolled at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
After returning to Holy Names, Sister Webb gradually became aware that
“the choice of life for some women was so difficult and the teaching
of the Church was so decisive that I felt it was necessary for the Church
to be more visible by offering services to unmarried pregnant women.”
An opportunity to do so arose in 1983 when Holy Family Sister Leonard
Donovan, director of catechetical ministries for the Oakland Diocese,
decided to start a home for unmarried pregnant women.
Speaking from the Holy Family Sisters motherhouse in Fremont, Sister Donovan,
now retired, said she knew just who to ask to help carry out this plan.
She offered Sister Webb a part-time job in catechetical ministry, with
the caveat to start looking into ways to start a home.
Three years later, with the combined help of the St. Vincent de Paul Society
and Catholic women’s groups, Casa Vincentia opened.
The home continues to this day, with over 500 women having passed through
its doors. Sister Webb remained on the Casa board of directors until the
fall of 1996 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Colleagues, who knew her well, expressed their collective sadness at her
death.
Bishop Emeritus John Cummins, St. Joseph Sister Barbara Flannery, Rita
Billeci and Sister Donovan all commented that Sister Maureen Webb consistently
kept the seamless garment intact within the web of life.
She did so by “reflecting the heritage of the Holy Names Sisters
and Vatican II’s assessment of the nun as educator in the modern
world,” noted Bishop Cummins. Sister Webb’s teaching ability
reflected French philosopher Etienne Gilson’s belief that piety
is no substitute for technique, he said.
Sister Webb could move beyond automatic responses, the Bishop continued,
adding that “she had an easy manner, tough mind, strong conviction,
combined with a softness” that engaged people on both sides of the
issue.
Rita Billeci, former director of the diocesan Family Life Office, called
Sister Webb a “jewel.” During the three years of planning
for Casa Vincentia, she never gave up, Billeci said. “We hit every
kind of financial obstacle imaginable, but her faith was marvelous.”
Sister Webb’s compassion, kindness and outstanding administrative
abilities were exactly what was needed to get Casa up and running, said
Sister Donovan.
Sister Barbara Flannery, diocesan chancellor, remembered Maureen Webb
as a woman who brought a concern to life issues that didn’t alienate
people. “She showed such respect for individuals on both sides of
the issue and was just as concerned about the death penalty as the abortion
issue.”
Sister Webb’s funeral was held on Aug. 21 at the Holy Names Motherhouse
in Los Gatos with Bishop Cummins as celebrant. She was buried Aug. 22
at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward.
Her brothers, Bill and Joe, their wives and children, all of southern
California, survive her.
Sister Maureen Webb, snjm
