Sister M. Margarite Apostolo, SHF

Sister M. Margarite Apostolo, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family for 60 years, died in Fremont, March 16, at the age of 78. She served in the Oakland Diocese at St. Catherine, Martinez, and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Brentwood (1968-1970), and Christ the King, Pleasant Hill and St. Anthony, Oakley (1973-1976).

For 30 years she worked in pastoral ministry and hospital chaplaincy at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco and Seton Medical Center in Daly City. Her ministries also included several years in Hawaii.

In 2005, Sister Margarite retired to the Holy Family Motherhouse in Fremont and continued her pastoral ministry with the formation of a bereavement support group.
A Memorial Mass was celebrated at the Motherhouse Chapel of the Sisters of the Holy Family on March 20. Burial took place at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma.

Memorial remembrances may be sent to the Sisters of the Holy Family, P.O. Box 3248, Fremont, CA 94539.

Sister Rosario Maria Asturias. SNJM

Holy Names Sister Rosario Maria Asturias, a longtime educator in the Oakland Diocese, died May 13 at a San Jose hospital. She was 94 and had been a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary for 66 years.

A native of Guatemala City, Guatemala, Sister Asturias, also known as Sister Esther Marie, taught at Oakland’s Holy Names High School from 1942-1944 and 1948-1951 and at high schools in Alhambra and Santa Monica. Between 1963 and 1995 she served as a professor of Spanish at Oakland’s Holy Names College (now University).

During her retirement, she served as a local convent leader at her community’s convent in Los Gatos and in ministry at Oakland’s St. Andrew-St. Joseph Parish, where she helped neighborhood women study the Bible and did volunteer work.

Survivors include her brother and sister-in-law, Edwin and Conchas Asturias; sister-in-laws, Alice Asturias and Tere Loya Asturias; and nieces and other family members.

The funeral Mass was held May 20 at the Convent of the Holy Names in Los Gatos. Burial was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward the following day.

Sister Diane Denke, SNJM

Holy Names Sister Diane Denke, a longtime educator and parish minister who served in the Oakland Diocese, died May 17 at the age of 71. She had been a member of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary for 50 years.

The San Francisco native spent 23 years as a teacher or principal at schools in Altadena, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Goleta. In the Oakland Diocese she simultaneously (1964-1969) taught first grade at St. Bede School and 12th grade at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward. She also taught fourth grade at Holy Spirit School in Fremont from 1969-1972.

She later embarked on a journey to parish ministry and spent several years working with Msgr. Bernard Moran at St. Theresa Parish in Oakland (1990-1994). She also served at St. Thomas More Parish in Alhambra.

The funeral Mass was held May 26 at the Convent of the Holy Names in Los Gatos. Burial took place the following day at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward.

Sister Carol Anne O’Marie, CSJ

Sister Carol Anne O’Marie, perhaps best known as the author of 12 popular Sister Mary Helen mystery novels, died in Oakland May 27 at the age of 75.

A native of San Francisco who attended St. Emydius Grammar School and Star of the Sea Academy, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1951 and spent 57 years in religious life.

She was a teacher, assistant editor of the Catholic Herald newspaper of the Diocese of Sacramento, and development director for Carondelet High School in Concord.

On a book tour to promote one of her novels, she was struck by the contrast between the plight of a homeless woman she encountered on the street and the luxury of the hotel where she was speaking. It was this injustice that led her and St. Joseph Sister Maureen Lyons in 1990 to found A Friendly Place, a daytime drop-in shelter for homeless women in downtown Oakland. A Friendly Place won the Jefferson Award in January 2008. Revenue from her novels helped fund the outreach ministry.

She is survived by her sister Kathleen O’Marie and other family members, including Caroline Benson, John and Denise Benson, Eva Eulalia Benson, Noelle and Ryan Sullivan, and Kathleen Rose Sullivan.

Vigil services were held June 1 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Oakland. The funeral Mass took place June 2, also at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Burial followed at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Oakland.

Memorial gifts can be made to A Friendly Place, 2298 San Pablo Ave., Oakland CA 94612; Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, 11999 Chalon Road, Los Angeles CA 90049; or Mercy Care Center, 3431 Foothill Blvd., Oakland CA.

Sister Mary Rose Therese Sousa, PBVM

Sister Mary Rose Therese Sousa, a teacher and principal at St. Joseph the Worker School in Berkeley (1971 to 1977) who went on to become treasurer of the Presentation Sisters for 16 years, died June 1 at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. She was 81 and had been a Sister of the Presentation for 63 years.

Born in Tampa, Florida, Muriel Catherine Sousa moved with her family to Berkeley several years later. She attended St. Joseph Elementary and St. Joseph Presentation Academy, and then entered the Presentation Sisters in 1946. Three years later, she began her 25-year teaching career that included schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as Berkeley and seven years at St. John the Baptist School in San Lorenzo.

When she completed her work as community treasurer in 1993, she began part-time financial work for Saint Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco and later worked in the finance office for the San Francisco Archdiocese. After retiring, Sister Sousa continued to use her financial skills for the Sisters of the Presentation. A member of the Northern California-Nevada-Hawaii District of the American Rose Society, Sister Mary Rose Therese Sousa won many awards for her beautiful roses.

Sister Sousa earned a bachelor of science in general education from the University of San Francisco, a master’s in librarianship from San Jose State University, and a master’s in business administration from the University of San Francisco.

A funeral Mass took place June 5 at the Presentation Motherhouse in San Francisco, with interment in Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of the Presentation Development Office, 281 Masonic Ave., San Francisco, CA 94118.

Passionist priest, known for tying
ecology to spirituality, dies at 94

By Catholic News Service

GREENSBORO, N.C. (CNS) — Passionist Father Thomas Berry — internationally regarded as the dean of those working to relate ecology to spirituality — died June 1 at the Well-Spring Community in Greensboro. He was 94.

Through his teaching and his writings over the years, the priest inspired conferences, books, poetry and music, and courses in “earth justice.” He even influenced some religious communities to transform their motherhouses into ecologically sustainable retreat centers.

Father Berry saw the clarion call of the 21st century as the need to move from being a disrupting force on the earth to being a benign presence. Through his seminal works “The Dream of the Earth” and “The Universe Story,” he taught that the earth itself is endowed with an innate living spirituality that needs to be rediscovered, greeted with wonder, listened to, celebrated in song, poetry and art, and nurtured instead of exploited and destroyed by industrialism and commerce.

His other significant works were “The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future” and “Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community.”

In 1970 he established the Riverdale Center for Religious Research in Riverdale, N.Y. There he organized annual conferences exploring such themes as energy and its cosmic-human dimensions, technology and the future, and the ecological age.

His papers are housed in Harvard University’s Environmental Science and Public Policy Archives.

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