Sister Ann M. Maloney 
1924-2011

Michael and Anna (O’Brien) Maloney, who were living in Chicago, had been told that Anna could not carry a child; and so, two years after their marriage, they adopted a baby girl whom they named Mary. They thought that she would be the only family they would have. Almost fifteen years later what they considered a miracle occurred. Anna Maloney became pregnant. A baby was born to the happy couple on April 9, 1924, and baptized Ann Marie. In her autobiography, Sister Ann wrote, “My mother was forty-two and my father was forty-seven years of age.” Mary was fifteen, and always seemed like an adult to her young sister. However, Sister Ann wrote that Mary “was my best friend through all stages of life, always there, always caring.”

Both parents’ roots were in Ireland. Their ancestors left Ireland; and, after arriving in America, settled in Chicago. Sister described her father as a prayerful person, “a typical Francis of Assisi type—in love with the world, its creatures, and its people.” He worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his small daughter often visited his office. At those times he would ask the shy child to “sing a song” for the people who worked there. She wrote of her mother as “practical, pragmatic, and competent,” and as a very tender mother. On the day before the “Crash” of 1929, her mother made the final payment on their home, and transferred their savings to a safety deposit box. As a result, they did not suffer a great deal from the closing of the banks and the Great Depression.

The first three years of small Ann’s education were somewhat difficult. She attended Warren School, a public school, for kindergarten, first and second grades. When it was time for third grade, she transferred to St. Ailbe School, where she met the Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Tennessee and was impressed by the Dominican motto, Truth. It was at the end of fourth grade and at the age of eight that she decided to enter the Dominican Order, but not to tell anyone until she was old enough to leave home. During these years she studied piano and music. When she graduated from eighth grade, she was awarded a scholarship to Aquinas High School.

Her high school years were exciting and fulfilling. She loved Aquinas High School and the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Besides the regular courses, she also took typewriting, piano, choral, and the dramatic arts, and she became involved in CISCA (Chicago Inter-Student Catholic Action) led by the Jesuits in those years. By the time she was a junior, she had lost interest in the Nashville Dominicans and had become interested in joining the Adrian Dominicans. Her parents sensed her desire, and did not stand in her way. Shortly after graduation, on June 22, 1941, her brother-in-law Al Taft drove her to the train station. A few hours later, she and two friends, Patricia Hogan, and Mary Dougherty, arrived in Adrian, stopped for ice cream, then took a cab to the Adrian Motherhouse and entered the postulate.

She wrote of her admiration for Sisters Brigetta McDonough, the Mistress of Postulants, and Mary Philip Ryan, the Novice Mistress, as strong, faithful women. On December 30, her group received the habit and their religious names. Ann was called Sister Ellen Maureen from that day until the 1970s. They professed their first vows on December 31, 1942. Since Sister Denise Mainville, one of the Congregation’s great musicians, was her sponsor and she had studied piano and music, Sister Ann, although feeling inadequate, found herself designated a music major. Following profession, she was assigned to remain in Adrian for a semester of study at Siena Heights College (now University). In August 1943 she was assigned to St. Alphonsus in Deerfield, Michigan, where she taught the first three primary grades for two years, and also served as musician. During the latter months of 1944 her mother was not well, and she died shortly before Christmas, on December 16.

In 1945 she was sent to Florida, as a primary teacher and musician at St. Helen in Vero Beach. A year later she was transferred to St. Patrick in Miami, where she spent six years teaching primary and junior high students and serving as musician. During the summers she attended Barry College (now University) and in June 1948 received a bachelor’s degree with a major in music and minors in English and Spanish.

She spent the summer of 1952 in Nassau, the Bahamas, taking census. Brought back to Michigan in fall 1952, she was assigned to another school called St. Patrick, this time in Brighton, where she again taught primary children and served as musician. A year later she was transferred to St. Mary in Rockwood, Michigan, where she taught sixth grade and music.

In 1955 she was surprised by her appointment as superior and teaching principal at St. Bridget in Loves Park, Illinois. Sister Ann was delighted to be closer to her family. During that time, she made known to Mother Mary Gerald Barry her discomfort in the music field, and was given permission to change her major field. During the summers she studied at Michigan State University in Lansing, and in August 1958 received a master’s degree with a major in education and minor in music education. When she left St. Bridget after a successful six-year term as superior and principal, she spent three more years teaching on the junior high level: two years at Our Lady of Knock in Calumet City and a year at St. Edmund in Oak Park, both in Illinois. And it was in April 1963 that she went through a period of mourning at the death of her father.

Her appointment in 1964 to Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Illinois, began her ministry on the secondary level. That year was followed by four years at St. Edward High School in Elgin. Both were as an English teacher. She started studying theology, and the year at Aquinas High School in Chicago, her alma mater, was as a religion teacher. In her lengthy autobiography she wrote:

My search for Dominican Truth certainly had to be re-thought and re-defined beyond “the black and white” limitations of our formation. Even with St. Thomas we didn’t have all the answers, and some of his fell short. Rahner’s “Incarnational Theology,” affirming the holiness/wholeness of all creation, spoke to the heart and culture of the 60s and helped me to discover the gospel where it spoke in the world—in the music, the art, the films, and the peace movement. . . . For me it was a time to reclaim our primitive faith with new understanding.

I suppose it should not have been a surprise that I experienced conflict with local authority during those beginning years of renewal. . . . My provincial and I simply weren’t “in the same place” on anything. I regret that I was a thorn in her side, but at the same time I felt that the price of freedom was worth the pain for both of us.

In 1970 she began her ministry as religious education coordinator at Mater Christi Parish in North Riverside, Illinois. During her time there, in 1973, she received a second master’s degree with a major in theology from Mundelein College in Chicago. When she left Mater Christi four years later, she spent eight years as adult religious education coordinator, five years planning religious programs for the three parishes in St. Joseph, Michigan, and three years in Chicago—two years at Old St. Mary, a year part-time at St. Teresa and St. Hubert.

She decided that she needed an easier ministry, so in 1982 she became a secretarial assistant at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. There she spent six years typing manuscripts and learning the computer. It was during this time, in 1986, that her beloved brother-in-law Al Taft died; and, although she felt sorrow at his loss, she was a comfort to her sister. Mary followed him to eternity in 1998. During that time Sister Ann also volunteered at Sarah’s Circle, a center for homeless women.

She returned to Adrian in 1988 and spent four years as a Council secretary. She then returned to Chicago where she took a sabbatical year. There she resumed helping at centers for homeless women, and volunteering in the office of Misericordia, a home for young people with various kinds of impairments. She also stayed for an inspirational month at Corazon, a retreat center owned by the Sparkill Dominicans.

The year 1994 began her two-year ministry in secretarial work for Parable Conference in River Forest, Illinois, after which she returned to the Catholic Theological Union for another two years. She retired in December 1998 and lived for almost a year in Chicago before returning to Adrian in 1999 and moving into the Dominican Life Center/Regina Residence. In 2007 her health was deteriorating, and she found it necessary to become a resident in the Maria building. Death came to her on July 7, 2011. She was eighty-seven years of age.

A wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Ann on July 11 in St. Catherine Chapel. Sister Jo Gaugier, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, extended sympathy and welcomed the relatives and friends who were present. She summarized Sister Ann’s life and ministry, and spoke of her last days.

Throughout life Sister Ann did seem to be a woman “on a mission.” So the early signs of memory loss had to be difficult. Her last few years consisted of up and down days, and moments of awareness and non-awareness.

Truth seems a motto woven through her life, and true friends she had and has. Friends were at her bedside for her anointing . . . and very present as she began steadily to fade in strength and responsiveness.

Sister Patricia McCarty remembered:

Sister Ann Maloney became the first superior/principal of St. Bridget School in Loves Park just outside of Rockford, Illinois. Mother Gerald sent Ann, who was young, and eleven sisters, who also were very young, to assist in the elementary school there. Father Raymond Gordon was the opinionated pastor and a great favorite of Mother Gerald. Sister Margaret Ellen, Father Gordon’s sister, was around to make sure that Father Gordon was treated well and that we young sisters were behaving ourselves. I learned to love the sisters, our superior Sister Ann, and Father Gordon. Sister Ann was a strict but loving superior.

Sister Margaret Mehigan reminisced:

Sister Connie Kelly and I lived with Sister Ann in the mid 1970s. Ann had recently completed a Master of Arts in Theology. Her enthusiasm for the Vatican II documents and highlights of her research were shared freely. Our communal prayer was graced with faith sharing and her creative words. We were deeply grateful for her insight. . . . She loved working with adults in Faith Formation and Adult Education. Her best years were sharing ministry and faith with the Passionist Community at Catholic Theological Union. She was definitely in touch with God. She was a woman on fire, working for the Church and for us.

When I arrived in Adrian in 2008 her dementia was slowly curtailing her life.

Sister Laura Pautz also shared memories.

I lived with Sister Ann many years ago in Hyde Park. We lived in a two-flat apartment. We were all working or studying, and she was alone and probably lonely. But she got through it with no complaints. She really made friends throughout her life, and it was hard for her when she was losing part of herself.

Cheryl O’Brien, a cousin, spoke in gratitude.

I am so glad to see all of you here. Her mother’s maiden name was O’Brien. My mother and her mother were cousins. My mother and Sister Ann were second cousins. The O’Brien women were the center of the family, and were all strong women. As a kid I remember Sister Ann coming to the house visiting, and my mother always prepared well for her coming. We would have a garden party outside for her. She couldn’t come into the house, but she would drink lots of lemonade so she would have to go into the house eventually.

I was amazed by her. I’m glad that I got to know her in Chicago when I was five years old. As I got older, I saw that she was ahead of her time. I remember her being out of her habit before the nuns in our parish were. I’m glad to be here and hear about what her life was like. Thank you for opening your hearts to her and to me.

Sister Ann’s funeral liturgy took place on July 12. Father Robert Kelly, OP, Motherhouse chaplain, was the presider and homilist. She was laid to rest in the Congregational cemetery.

Sister Ann was a gifted and unusual person, much loved by many people. She was truly a “woman on fire,” a woman ahead of her time, who will be much missed.