Sister Jeanne Houlihan, MM

Born: February 11, 1931
Entered: September 2, 1952
Died: March 26, 2024

Some time ago, when our Sister Jeanne Houlihan was beginning to need some care, she told her good friend, Sister Betty Ann Maheu: “Whatever God wants, I want. That’s all.” And it seems that God wanted Jeanne in heaven to celebrate the sacred days of Holy Week. At 7:00 pm on March 26, 2024, just as sunset was radiating over the Hudson, Jeanne died in the Maryknoll Sisters Home care at Maryknoll, New York.

Jeanne Dolores Houlihan was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 11, 1931, to Joseph Patrick and Catherine Dundon Houlihan, one of eight children, all of whom have pre-deceased her. She graduated from St. Monica Grade School in 1944 and St. Joseph Academy in St. Louis in 1948. She received a Bachelor of Science in dietetics from Fontbonne College in 1952. Her decision to enter the Maryknoll Sisters was well received by her very strongly Catholic family, “although with many tears as well.”

Jeanne arrived at Maryknoll, New York on September 2, 1952, and made her first profession there on March 7, 1955, receiving the religious name of Sister Joel Marie—she returned to her family name after the Vatican Council. Jeanne made her final vows in Hong Kong on March 7, 1961.

Jeanne’s mission life began with her assignment to Hong Kong in 1955. She taught English, domestic science and Bible study in various grades at Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon. When she planned her renewal in 1971, she already knew that she was to become Principal of the Secondary School; thus she was sent by the Region to St. Louis University earning a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration in 1972. Jeanne assumed the position of Principal when she returned in 1972; she supervised teachers as well as worked with curriculum development in the school. In addition, Jeanne taught a course at Chinese University in Teaching Methodology from 1983-1985. When her responsibilities lessened at the school, Jeanne volunteered her time at Mau Tau Wei remand home for girls.

There is no way to measure the grace that Jeanne’s love and presence were to the Maryknoll “girls” over the years. She nurtured them, challenged them, encouraged them and loved them. The Hong Kong Alumnae have been and continue to be overwhelmingly generous to the Maryknoll Sisters in every way. Jeanne has been a large part of this continuum of love.

In 1991, Jeanne was asked to use the administration skills she had honed in Hong Kong to serve as the Development Director at the Maryknoll Center. That she did this very well is proved by the fact that she was asked to extend her contract year after year for ten plus years—until October 2002. The lesson seems to be this: If you want to go back overseas quickly, don’t do too good a job at your task in Maryknoll, New York.

When Jeanne returned to Hong Kong, she taught part time at Chinese University in the New Territories and was also heavily engaged with her work as a Board Member of the Maryknoll Convent School Foundation. The Foundation was established formally in 2004 to address the decreasing number of Maryknoll Sister-teachers for the school and the uncertainty around the future of education as the implications of the turnover of Hong Kong to become a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997 became clearer and clearer. Sisters Agnes Cazale, Jeanne and other Sisters and Alumnae had formed a core committee to untangle the legal and canonical issues involved with the process of creating the Foundation. The goal: “To ensure the continuity of quality education and the Maryknoll culture” into the future. The school is still to this day a clear witness to that success. At the request of Bishop Zen, Jeanne also served on the Hong Kong Catholic Board of Education from 2005-2007.

Jeanne stayed in Hong Kong until she was assigned to the Rogers community in 2012 here at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. She served in various ways—as sacristan and in the development department connecting with donors and sponsors by phone and letter. In 2012, the centenary year of the Maryknoll Sisters, the documentary TRAILBLAZERS IN HABITS, created by Maryknoll alumnae and produced and directed by Nancy Tong and Vivien Ng as historian and associate producer, premiered in New York and Hong Kong. It captured vividly the lives and ministries mostly of the sisters in Hong Kong and China, but also offered significant glimpses of many Sisters around the world. Sister Jeanne and Sister Betty Ann Maheu accompanied the film to many locations, responding to questions and enhancing the spread of the Maryknoll Sisters story.

When she needed more medical support, Jeanne transferred to the Chi Rho community and in 2020, always self-aware of her own needs; she asked to transfer to Eden in 2022.  It is there that she died, accompanied over her last days by the nurses and aides, her Maryknoll Sisters and many of the Hong Kong alumnae who live in the area and who have been faithful friends to Jeanne for many years.  She died as she lived, responsive to “what God wants, not me.”

We welcome Fr. Dave LaBuda, MM who will celebrate this liturgy of thanksgiving and remembrance.