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In Memory

Sister Mary Aquinas of the Blessed Sacrament, MSBT
Entered into eternal rest December 28, 2010

Sister Mary Aquinas was born November 8, 1914, in Brooklyn, NY and was baptized Theresa Joan Abels.  Her father, Frederick Abels, was from Red Bank, NJ and her mother, Catherine Kemmer, was from Brooklyn, NY.

She entered the Missionary Servants from Richmond Hill, NY on September 24, 1944 at the age of 30.  She had 2.5 years of High School, 1 year at Brown Business School, and work experience.  She also had six years as a member of the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Richmond Hill-Queens, under the direction of Sr. Jane Edmund.  In her letter to Mother Mary Frances she says, “Having been with the Outer Cenacle the past six years I feel drawn to the Inner Cenacle and wish to apply.”

Sister made her first profession on March 25, 1946 and her final profession took place on March 25, 1949.  Following her first profession, she was assigned to Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia.  She was a natural at social ministry.

Her ministry assignments then led her to Mobile, Alabama; Trenton, NJ; Red Bank, NJ; Pottsville, PA; Greensburg, PA; Montgomery, AL; Long Beach, MS; Pensacola, FL; Clifton, NJ where she entered the Ministry of Prayer in 1990 and later to the Motherhouse in 1994.

In 1978 Sister received the “Migration and Refugee Services Award” from United States Catholic Conference for her outstanding efforts in the Indochina Refugee Program.  This included her commitment to refugee resettlement and her work to assist others in finding new homes, hope, and life.  She overcame the language barriers by using personal translators.  Her acceptance of people from far away countries was without bounds.

Sister’s work in Pensacola stands as an example of her missionary zeal.  She was in Pensacola for seven years.  An article in the Florida Catholic speaks of Sister as a “mother” to immigrants. It further states that: having done similar work in Mississippi, Sister soon became an accredited representative of the Board of Immigration.  She established the first immigration office of its kind in Florida in Fort Walton Beach. She worked mostly in refugee work as well as immigration processing. She worked with refugees from Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, and Cambodia.  She worked with immigrants from Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Italy, Spain, Germany, Scotland, and Cuba.

Language was never a problem, as she would get an interpreter to help her.  She said, “I had a natural bent for the work” in that she was in Mobile when the Hungarians came in the 1950’s, and in Miami when the Cubans arrived.  She said that she grew with the ministry.  At a party when leaving this ministry she is quoted as saying: “It was natural.  I love them, they love me.  That’s the way it was.”

In 2009 Sister was interviewed by the Life Transitions Committee and that interview is published in our November 2009 Newsletter.  The interview reflects Sister’s ability to reflect on her life and God’s call to move on as transitions were indicated.  She did so gracefully.                      May she rest in peace!