Sister Teresa Leung, MM

Born: October 21, 1931
Entered: September 2, 1956
Died: September 14, 2026

“Weeping may come in the evening, but with the dawn rejoicing.” (Ps. 30). At 7:40 AM on September 14, 2026, the feast of the Holy Cross, Sister Teresa Suk-Ching Leung died peacefully in the Maryknoll Sisters Home Care. Teresa was 94 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 70 years.

Teresa was born in Hong Kong on October 21, 1931, to Rosa SHAK Chi Yan and Joseph Leung Wing Tak, one of four children, only one of whom has predeceased Teresa. Teresa’s education was at Maryknoll Convent School graduating with a Hong Kong School Certificate Standard in 1952. She took secretarial courses at the Hong Kong Technical School and worked in a law office for a few years while she discerned her vocation.

Teresa wrote of her call to Maryknoll: “It was easy to recognize the call, but it was not easy to make a decision to respond as I also felt a call to family life.” Her strong Catholic upbringing of family prayer and her years at Maryknoll Convent School formed the basis of her decision to enter the Maryknoll Sisters on September 2, 1956, at Maryknoll, New York. Her first vows were at Maryknoll, New York, June 24, 1959, and her final vows in Hong Kong on the same date in 1965.

In 1960, Teresa began her long and varied ministry in Hong Kong—first in Chai Wan doing refugee work, pastoral care and retreat work. She did secretarial work at Maryknoll Hospital before returning to Chai Wan and pastoral care. Teresa returned to New York to study and received her Bachelor of Science in Education in 1972. Her teaching career in Maryknoll Convent School went from 1974, first in elementary school, and then teaching English and literature in the high school, until 1987. After Mission Service in treasury, Teresa was assigned to the Central Pacific Region in 1991 where she worked with child and family services for two years until she returned to the Center.

Teresa served once again in treasury on mission service from 1993-1996. In this period, in 1995, Teresa became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She was assigned to the Rogers Community in 1997 and was Administrative Assistant in residential care from 2002, serving with Mary T. Connell, a partnership and friendship that helped create a wonderful spirit in our care area. She was formally assigned to the Rogers Community in 1997.

From 1987 through to 2024, Teresa was engaged in a ministry that she loved, Alumnae Relations Liaison with Maryknoll Hong Kong Graduates. It called forth her immense talents as secretary, fund-raiser, mentor and friend to the many women whom she had known in Hong Kong. Teresa was very close to her students. She kept in contact with the women, knew their families and supported them over the years with her love and concern. They in turn visited her here often over the years and have become faithful donors to the Maryknoll Sisters.

In 2018, Teresa asked to join the Chi Rho community where she generously shared her many talents in computer problem-solving, Chinese cooking, hair-cutting, driving and accompanying sisters to medical appointments, and anything else she could do to help. She shared her devotion to the Blessed Mother and was rarely without her rosary. This was a complex woman who could be maddening and very lovable at the same time—we were blessed by her.

Teresa asked to go to the Eden Community in November 2025, sensing that the end was near—she was right. And now she rests in God’s peace.

We welcome Fr. Paul Duffy, MM who will preside at this liturgy of remembrance for Sister Teresa Suk-Ching Leung.