Marion Aherne SSJ

  Name: S. Marion Aherne, SSJ

  Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

  Entrance Date: September 9, 1938

  First Profession Date: August 9, 1941

  Final Profession Date: August 9, 1946

  Present Ministry:  Retirement at Saint Joseph Villa

Praying for needs of the world

What attracted you to Religious Life?

Fortunately I was raised in a very religious-oriented home.  Mass and all parish devotions were our daily bread.  Care for the poor and kindness toward our neighbors were exemplified by our mother.  My father, son of Irish immigrants, carried his faith to this country with great pride.  My mother, one of eight children, had four sisters who entered religious life, three of whom were Sisters of Saint Joseph.  This, plus my experience of the Sisters at the John W. Hallahan High School for Girls inspired me.  I recognized the excellent teaching and good humor of Immaculate Heart, Mercy, Franciscan and Holy Child Sisters, but with my aunts and my older sibling Sister Consuelo Maria already an SSJ, the “die was cast” as far as choosing a Community.

What kind of ministries have you done over the course of your religious life?

My first sixteen years I taught grades second to eighth in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  At the latter, we traveled on Sundays to Bowie, MD, where we conducted catechetical classes and prepared the children for the Sacraments.  In 1956 I began teaching Spanish at Little Flower Catholic High School.  I also taught four years of Latin after earning an MA degree at Villanova in that subject.  I spent thirty-five years in various high schools including Bishop McGuinness in Winston-Salem, NC.   I would have continued teaching after eleven years at Bishop McDevitt in Wyncote, but the Congregation asked me to fill an opening as Pastoral Care Minister on the fourth floor of Saint Joseph Villa.  I served in this ministry for five years.  In 1997, a stroke limited my teaching Spanish privately to a few individuals and some others desirous of learning the language.  I resumed this service during 1997-1998, while recuperating at the Villa.  As a Villa resident, I became part of a small team of sisters who wrote sisters’ histories, sixty-five of which resulted in interviews typed and submitted for future reference.

Name a time when you made a difference in someone’s life.

From 1991-1997, I taught a priest friend Latin and Spanish over the phone.  Persevering through grammar books, excerpts from the Early Fathers, a New Testament translation, Father was able to offer Mass in Latin and Spanish.  It was my privilege to be present at those celebrations and to offer thanks to God for an endeavor that lifted my spirits during a difficult life situation.