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 Sr.
Mary Faith Geelan, OP
(Sr.
Brendan Marie)
Golden Jubilarian
50 years (July 9, 1957)
As a senior at St. Mary's High School in New Haven, Connecticut, Sr. Mary Faith Geelan picked up a pamphlet entitled "Please Lord, Don't Call Me" during a retreat. Nonetheless, she did feel the Lord's call to religious life, and so she came to St. Mary of the Springs soon after her 1955 graduation. Sr. Mary Faith (formerly Sr. Brendan Marie) stayed initially, she says, because she didn't want to put her father and brother through another Connecticut-Ohio train trip. Celebrating 50 years as a Dominican Sister this year, she is grateful for her vocation and all the experiences she has had along the way.
Early in her ministry, Sr. Mary Faith taught in elementary school and high school history courses at various schools in Ohio, Michigan, and Connecticut. In 1970, she accepted her first administrative position as principal at St. Francis de Sales High School in McKees Rocks, PA, and later served as principal at Mary Immaculate High School in Ossining, NY, and as vice principal at Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford, CT. In 1982, her Dominican Sisters elected Sr. Mary Faith to the Leadership Team of St. Mary of the Springs as a councilor, and in 1986 she was re-elected to the Team, this time as Vicaress, serving until 1990.
Finishing these terms in leadership, Sr. Mary Faith felt called to pursue a new ministry field and in 1992 earned a second Masters degree, this time in social work, from Marywood College, Scranton, PA. She found her subsequent work with troubled teens to be very rewarding, but in 1996, she was elected again to a leadership post with her congregation, this time as Prioress.
She discovered that being Prioress was very different from her previous Leadership Team position, but she felt that her earlier experience was "good training" for the responsibilities of this new role. Reflecting on her six years as prioress, Sr. Mary Faith recognizes many challenges she and her Leadership Team faced. "In leadership, you are elected to be out in front, to look to the future, to see things other people may not be able to see," she shares. "You have to make the hard decisions that need to be made for the common good, and it can be really painful." But she also is grateful for the many blessings of the same period. In various capacities as prioress, she was able to meet Dominicans from all over the world, opening her eyes to a wider perspective on religious life, the Church, and global realities that demand attention. The experience also helped strengthen her faith and gave her a new appreciation for the community experience of religious life.
During her tenure as prioress, Sr. Mary Faith also served as the president of the Dominican Leadership Conference (a collaborative association of leaders of Dominican religious in the United States) and as the vice-chair of the local region of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (the inter-congregational association of leaders of Catholic women religious in the United States). One of the great accomplishments of her term, which she emphatically emphasizes was a group effort, was the building of a new motherhouse for the congregation. From initial research on the possibilities for the old building to the final dedication ceremony of the new, the current motherhouse was completed start to finish under the direction of Sr. Mary Faith and her Leadership Team.
Upon leaving office, Sr. Mary Faith had an initial reflective sabbatical period, but then in 2003 she began her current ministry working in pastoral care at St. Agatha Parish, Columbus. Like her many other positions, this work has been extremely rewarding to Sr. Mary Faith. "I have received so much more than I could ever give in this ministry," she says. She loves working with the parishioners she serves and is especially grateful for her visits with the elderly of the parish. She has also been greatly impressed with the parish staff, where a spirit of collegiality, collaboration, and appreciation for one another's gifts permeates all they do.
Reflecting on the past fifty years, Sr. Mary Faith proclaims, "I have been so happy and have grown in so many ways with my different experiences over the years. I wouldn't be who I am today without having done the things I've done or known the people I've known. I have been so blessed by so many – I only hope I've left others with something along the way, too." |
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