Nine Sisters of Mount Carmel celebrate jubilees

Nine Sisters of Mount Carmel celebrate jubilees of vowed life this year, and seven were to be honored Nov. 27 with a Mass at Mount Carmel Academy’s Mother Thérèse Chevrel Assembly Center in New Orleans.

The jubilarians are Mount Carmel Sisters Denis Rodrigue (75 years); Odile Theriot and Fatima Mouton (70); Mary Martin and Jane Frances Remson (60); and Gwen Grillot and Lena Collins (50). Two others – Sisters Remedios Natonton and Gina Yabo – celebrated their 25th anniversary in the Philippines.

Since there was no 2020 gathering because of the pandemic, Sister Angele Marie Sadlier (70) and Sister Cheryl Scheaffer (50) also will be honored.

Sister Denis entered the congregation in 1943 and made her first profession of vows in 1946. She received her undergraduate degree in education at Loyola University New Orleans and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1969. She dedicated 48 years to education and served on the congregational leadership team and as novice directress, vocation directress. She taught at Mount Carmel, Lafayette; St. Dominic School, New Orleans; St. Joseph High School, Rayne; and at St. James Elementary and High School. She was principal of St. Joseph the Worker in Marrero; a teacher and the first principal of St. Joseph Elementary in Thibodaux; Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Westwego; Mount Carmel New Iberia High School; and E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux. She was inducted into the E.D. White Hall of Fame in 1997 and was named alumna of the year in 2005.
 

Sister Odile, a native of New Orleans, entered the congregation in 1948 and professed first vows in 1951. She attended Mount Carmel Academy and received a bachelor’s degree in home economics from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette and a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. She taught at St. Dominic, New Orleans; Mount Carmel High School, New Iberia; E.D. White High School, Thibodaux; and Vermilion Catholic, Abbeville. She was principal for 20 years at St. James Major High School in New Orleans. She also served at Mount Carmel Academy as supervisor of plant operations and as coordinator of retired sisters at St. Leo Convent in Lafayette. She resides at the Carmel Community in Lafayette.

 

Sister Fatima entered religious life in 1948 and professed first vows in 1951.  She attended Mount Carmel Elementary, Lafayette, and Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Loyola University New Orleans. She taught at St. Elizabeth, Paincourtville; Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Westwego; St. Augustine and St. Dominic, New Orleans; Mount Carmel Elementary, Abbeville; Rayne Catholic Elementary, Rayne; Cathedral-Carmel, Lafayette; and at St. Euphrasia in Granada Hills, California.  She also served as spiritual assistant to Lay Carmelites in the Abbeville and New Iberia areas. She resides at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Nursing Home in Opelousas.





 

Sister Mary entered the congregation in 1958 and professed first vows in 1961.  She attended elementary school in Los Angeles and received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Dominican College, New Orleans; a master’s of education degree in guidance and counseling from Loyola University New Orleans; and a master’s degree in theology from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. She taught at St. Dominic, where she was principal from 1971-81; St. Louis King of France and St. James Major, New Orleans; and Mount Carmel Junior High, New Iberia. She was principal and teacher at St. Euphrasia, Granada Hills, California, and Rayne Catholic Elementary, Rayne. She was coordinator of retired sisters at the motherhouse in 2002 and began working at the Lay Carmelite Office in Darien, Illinois in 2003, where she currently volunteers.
 

Sister Jane pronounced her first vows in 1961. She graduated from Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans and received a bachelor’s degree in biology and medical technology from St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans. She ministered in the U.S. and the Philippines as a medical technologist, co-founding the Mount Carmel Mobile Clinic. She also served on the congregation’s executive council and established the annual Walk for the Hungry in New Orleans. She served on the advisory board of Hands Across America and was president of the New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness; a member of the Mayor’s Task Force on Nutrition in New Orleans; the Governor’s and Mayor’s Task Forces for Welfare Reform in Louisiana; Human Services Task Force for the Louisiana Legislature; White House discussion on Welfare Reform in Louisiana; board of directors Bread for the World National; and U.S. National Committee for World Food Day.  She was a delegate to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and represented the Carmelite NGO at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark.
 

Sister Gwen entered Carmel in 1968 and professed first vows in 1971. She attended St. Agnes, St. Dominic Elementary and Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans. She received a bachelor’s degree in special education from Nicholls University, Thibodaux and taught in Catholic schools in Marrero, Abbeville, Thibodaux, New Iberia and New Orleans before becoming director of religious education at St. Dominic Parish. She served as general administrator of the congregation property in Lacombe and as assistant finance officer. She was executive director of Carmel in the Central Business District until its closing in 2003. She has served as executive director of Cub Corner Preschool since 2003.



 

Sister Lena entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery in 1971 and transferred to the Sisters of Mount Carmel in 2008. She attended St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing. She served as a staff nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, and at the Infirmary of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, attending to the health care of the elderly members of her community. In 1985, she served as a missionary nurse in Liberian West Africa, providing health care and vaccinations to people in isolated villages. In the early 1990s, she served Liberian refugees in Tabon, Ivory Coast, until returning to the U.S. in 1996. She met the Sisters of Mount Carmel while attending the sabbatical/renewal program at Blessing Place in Lacombe. She later worked for the Edmundite mission in Alabama in outreach ministry. After Hurricane Katrina, she transferred to the Sisters of Mount Carmel, where she served as general administrator of the congregation property in Lacombe and as house manager of the Carmelite Spirituality Center. She serves in the Pastoral Care Department of Wynhoven Health Care Center in Marrero.

 

Sister Remedios, a native of the Philippines, entered Carmel in 1993 and professed first vows in 1996. After undergraduate studies in the Philippines, she served on the staff at Cub Corner Preschool, New Orleans; as a volunteer at the Thérèse Chevrel Outreach Program, Quezon City; canteen manager at Holy Child Hospital and served on the staff of the Mount Carmel Mobile Clinic, Dumaguete City; Sisters of Mount Carmel Catholic School assistant librarian; and pastoral ministry in the Philippines. In 2013, she departed the Philippines to establish a new mission in Timor-Leste north of Australia. Sister Remedios returned to the Philippines in 2019 to oversee the canteen at Sisters of Mount Carmel Catholic School, Fairview, Quezon City.




 

Sister Gina, a native of the Philippines, entered Carmel in 1993, professed first vows in 1996 and perpetual vows in 2002. She received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Immaculate Conception College, Ozamiz City, Philippines. She received a master’s degree in educational management from St. Paul University of Dumaguete in 2002. She received a Juris Doctor non-thesis degree from Foundation University, Dumaguete City in 2013. She is yet to finish the final step toward her master’s in hospital administration. She has served as assistant to the director of Bread for the World, New Orleans chapter. She served as a vocation animator, teacher and hospital canteen manager in the Philippines. She also served as principal of Sisters of Mount Carmel Catholic School in Quezon City from 2000-05 and 2009-12. She served as assistant administrator and financial auditor of Holy Child Hospital, Dumaguete City. She currently is Philippine Region treasurer and administrator of Holy Child Hospital.