Jubilarians: Sister Martha Kavanagh, Sister Anne of Christ McGinn, Sister Barbara Takacs
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February 20, 2024
Sister Martha Kavanagh, SCC
70 Years“I am very happy for all my years as a Sister of Christian Charity. I was always happy wherever I was in service. It’s just the joy of telling people about the Lord.”
Ask Sister of Christian Charity Martha Kavanaugh how it feels to be celebrating her 70th jubilee as a religious and she will tell you, “I really had a good run!”
Now, at the age of 87, she is finally closing in on retirement this summer, something that almost took place 12 years ago.
At the age of 75, she decided it was time to give up her full-time role as director of religious education. Her pastors came to her and said, “Please stay.” And she did, part time, as a pastoral associate and serving in faith formation.
“They gave me the gift of continuing ministry and it’s been beautiful, still talking about the Lord to people,” she acknowledged.
Since that time, Sister Martha has served the parish, organized senior luncheons, and still meets with two groups of women for spiritual development and formation, as well as continuing to be very present in the School of St. Elizabeth.
Sister Martha entered the Sisters of Christian Charity in 1954 and professed final vows Aug. 21, 1963 at Mallinckrodt Convent, Mendham. Her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education, and her two master’s degrees, one in religious education and one in administration, have been put to good use. In addition to serving in the field of religious education for some 60 years, she served as an elementary school teacher and principal in dioceses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Of her many assignments, Sister Martha recalls that she was “always happy wherever I was is service, in spite of the challenges.” She also noted that being a principal was her greatest challenge, though she worked for 23 years in administration and enjoyed it.
She has also served as a pastoral ministry and as a coordinator in her community’s motherhouse in Mendham, as well.
Looking back on “all the wonderful experiences God has given me,” Sister Martha says though all her life she held on to one saying from Cardinal St. John Henry Newman: “May no one be less good for having come with my influence; no one less kind, less noble for having been a fellow traveler in m journey toward eternal Life.”
By Mary Morrell, Editor-in-Chief
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Sister Anne of Christ McGinn, OCD
70 Years“The goal of everything is to ‘be good friends of God.’”
“I can’t imagine myself being happier anywhere else on earth,” said Sister Anne of Christ, reflecting on her 70 years as a Discalced Carmelite.
Born in Philadelphia in 1935 to Joseph and Annetta McGinn, Sister Anne attended Catholic Schools through 12th grade. After reading the Life of St. Therese in fourth or fifth grade, she remembers thinking, “If I ever become a Sister, I’11 be a Carmelite.”
“It’s a mysterious thing, she said, “It shows that a seed can be planted very young.”
But after that initial interest, she did not think of religious life again until her senior year of high school, when her teacher, a Sister of Notre Dame, suggested she might have a vocation.
“Of course, she was thinking of her Order, but suddenly it became clear – I would be a Carmelite,” Sister Anne remembered.
Sister Anne wrote to all the Carmels in the area, including Maryland and New Jersey. The Carmelites, led by Mother Mary Magdalen, were starting a new foundation in New Brunswick and she entered there on January 9, 1954.
“I was the first one who joined them and who persevered,” said Sister Anne.
She remembers living in an attic which was freezing cold. Buckets of water in each room would be ice by morning. After a six months postulancy, Sister Anne received the order’s habit. She made her first vows in 1956 and her final Profession in 1959.
“The goal of everything is to “be good friends of God,” said Sister Anne. She quoted St Teresa of Avila, who wrote,” All my longing was and still is that since God has ... so few friends, that these few friends be good ones.”
“Looking back over the past 70 years, I could not imagine being happier any place else on earth,” said Sister Anne. “There were certainly many challenges, difficulties and failings along the way but they all seem wrapped in the mantle of God’s patient and merciful love. He knows that my only desire is to give Him my all. My heart overflows with deepest gratitude for all His Blessings, especially the loving support of a great Community.”
By Mother Mary Elizabeth Birch, O.C.D.
---------------Sister Barbara Takacs, MPF
70 Years“The Filippini charism to ‘Go and Teach the Word of God’ was evident in their lives and the lives they touched.”
Filippini Sister Barbara Takacs grew up in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and attended Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary School there under the guidance and scholastic instruction of the Religious Teachers Filippini.
So when she discerned a call to religious life, she turned to the order that had had an impact on her young life. “The Filippini charism to ‘Go and Teach the Word of God’ was evident in their lives and the lives they touched,” she said.
This year Sister Barbara is marking 70 years since receiving the habit as a Religious Teacher Filippini at Villa Walsh in Morristown, the order’s motherhouse.
Now director of religious education in St. Augustine of Canterbury Parish, Kendall Park, Sister Takacs earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at Seton Hall University, South Orange. She served as a teacher and principal in the Diocese of Newark and in the Archdioceses of New York and Philadelphia.
The Pontifical Institute of the Religious Teachers Filippini is an institute of consecrated life dedicated to the works of the Christian apostolate.
According to its website, filippiniusa.org, the congregation is faithful to the original inspiration of its founders, St. Lucy Filippini and Cardinal Mark Anthony Barbarigo, and continues to regard the ministry of the Christian education of children, youth and adults, especially women, as their principal duty.
Sisters live a communal life in convents in 11 dioceses and three archdioceses in the United States.
Members of the congregation are present in seven countries with their General House in Rome.
Common prayer, daily Mass, rosary, Divine Office, meditation and Eucharistic Adoration nurture their community life.
By Cori Urban, Contributing Editor
---------------Sister Veronica Corbett, MPF
70 Years“We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.”
Eph. 2:10