SAN FRANCISCO – SAINT MONICA’S PARISH HALL – OUTER RICHMOND DISTRICT
6.1.2025 Liz Heidhues
“Who is going to replace Sister Noreen?”
Father Ben asked the approximately one hundred folks at St. Monica’s Parish Hall gathered together to say goodbye to the 90-year-old nun and to thank her for her years of duty and devotion to us – the parishioners of St. Monica-St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, and beyond, the families, the friends, the residents of the Outer Richmond District which the two Catholic churches serve.
The answer is – no one! No one will replace Sister Noreen.
She is one-of-a-kind, a feisty Irish nun, who entered the convent as a teen-ager and spent the past 70 years of her life performing small acts of love every day for people of all ages, from all walks of life, caring for them, praying for them, and simply lending them a friendly ear when they needed someone to listen and comfort them.
Sister Noreen helped build up the parish school at St. Thomas the Apostle Church and, when the Archdiocese ordered the two churches near each other to merge due to a shortage of priests and amid dwindling church-goers, she took on the task of the religious education of St. Monica’s Catholic School students as well as of those at St. Thomas, which eventually shuttered its Catholic school.
Sister Noreen was there for me when I needed her most.
She helped me defeat an egregious harm, a miscarriage of justice, testifying on my behalf as to my good character and good standing in our Catholic church. Her letter of faith in me countered the harmful lies about me that had portrayed me as a malevolent villainess to a court of law. I placed her letter first in the pile of letters I had to present to the court to fight for the truth to prevail and the law to be upheld. I will be forever indebted to Sister Noreen for doing this good work on my behalf.
Sister Noreen deserves her retirement.
Her empty pew at St. Thomas the Apostle Church this morning reminded me that nuns get to retire like everyone else, even though nuns continue to work well past the retirement age, entering their religious life as teen-agers and leading long and arduous careers as women devoting themselves fully to spiritual and intellectual pursuits.
Sister Noreen told us as we celebrated her retirement potluck luncheon today:
“Thank you very much for being here. We are family and we are community. And that says a lot.”
“The many beautiful days cannot be lived again. But they are compounded in my spirit and flesh and I will take them with me for whatever lies ahead.”
Sister Noreen will be moving away to a senior living facility in Daly City. Her convent is now empty, as well as her pew at church. All of the senior citizen nuns living in the convent near us will be going to live in the same community with Sister Noreen. She described her new home as a community moved by a spirit of peacefulness, gentleness, and joy.
Sister Noreen deserves her retirement. But no one can, nor will they ever, replace her friendly ear, her ability to teach children and adults how to love one another, and her vision of a better world that she vibrantly embodies.
Editorial assistance from Lee Heidhues
Photos by Liz and Lee
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