PRESENTATI ON ROOTS OPENI NG THE PRESENTATI ON ARCHI VES On August - - PDF document

SEPTEMBER 2019 VOLUME 18, I SSUE 3 PRESENTATI ON ROOTS PAGE 1

On August 27, 1919, Sisters Emerentiana Burns, Bonaventure Owens, Alphonsus Rahilly, Genevieve O’Reilly, Malachy Barry, and Annunciata Hollmann (pictured above) set sail from San Francisco on the steamer Humboldt bound for San Pedro Port. They arrived after a voyage of forty-two hours and were greeted warmly by the pastor

• f Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Father Gratian, who drove them to the small convent

that was to be their new home. So begins the Los Angeles County chapter of the Sisters

• f the Presentation, San Francisco story. A story that spans 100 years and continues

today through the works of the Southern California Presentation Associates and Alumni groups. In this issue, I am opening up the archives to share a timeline, brief histories, photographs and memorabilia from all of the ministries in Los Angeles beginning with the first Sisters’ arrival at Our Lady of Lourdes Grammar School through the individual ministries of the 1990s-2000s and everything in between.

PRESENTATI ON ROOTS

OPENI NG THE PRESENTATI ON ARCHI VES

CELEBRATI NG 100 YEARS I N LOS ANGELES COUNTY 1919 - 2019 PAGES 1-10 BACK TO SCH OOL CALL FOR CLASS PH OTOGRAPH S GROW THE ARCHIVES PAGES 12-13 H ONORI NG TH E UFW CORPORATE STANCE AUGUST 25, 1973 IN SUPPORT

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Celebrating 100 Years in Los Angeles

Our Lady of Lourdes Grammar School 1919-1990; 1995 -2015

Little could those first Sisters i m agi ne t hat pr i or t o t hei r withdrawal in 1990, the Lourdes ministry would transform over time from being a straightforward grammar school assignment to a bastion for parish visiting and

• utreach to all members of the

neighborhood, including local gang members, to a food bank serving several parishes on the East-side of Los Angeles, to a safe shelter for homeless women and children, to a basecamp for a variety of Catholic social services, and even, for a brief time, a free clinic. Although the Sisters formally withdrew from the ministry in 1990, Sister Christina Pizzorno, PBVM, (pictured right) returned in 1995 and remained until 2015 when she moved to the

• Motherhouse. 


Los Angeles M inistries Timeline

Our Lady of Lourdes Grammar School 1919-1990; 1995-2015 Our Lady of Loretto Grammar School 1921-1974 Bishop Conaty Memorial High School (also known as Catholic Girls H.S.) 1923-1977

Above: Our Lady of Lourdes Grammar School faculty, c. late 1960s. Above: A female resident and her baby in the Our Lady of Lourdes Convent while it was serving as the La Posada Shelter,

• c. 1987.

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Our Lady of Loretto Grammar School, 1921-1974

At the request of Right Reverend Bi shop Cant well and Rever end Patrick O’Donoghue, Pastor of Our Lady of Loretto Parish, nine Sisters left the Motherhouse in San Francisco

• n August 30, 1921, to take charge of

the parish grammar school. The first Presentation convent (pictured left)

• fficially opened nine days later on

September 8, 1921. The Grammar School opened just four days later on September 12, 1921, with 228 students in attendance. Student population remained steady until 1943, when it jumped to a whopping 425 pupils, an increase of 226 in just one year. To the delight of their pupils and the parishioners, Sisters of the Presentation maintained charge of the thriving school until June 1974, when Sister Patricia Marie Mulpeters, PBVM, and her council made the difficult decision to withdraw from the ministry. Above: First grade students boarding the Our Lady of Loretto school bus, 1949. Above: Gathering of the Los Angeles Sisters at Our Lady of Loretto Convent, Los Angeles, c. 1950s.

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Bishop Conaty M emorial (Catholic Girls) H igh School, 1923-1977

I n 1923, Si st er M . Rupert Looney joined the Loretto Community and along with Sister M. Euphemia M cFadden helped staff Catholic Girls High School. The school was originally founded to serve as an elementary school by the Sisters of Immaculate Heart in 1886, but was expanded into a high school in the early 1900s by Bishop Thomas J. Conaty, after whom the school was eventually renamed. Its faculty was unique in that it incorporated several congregations of women religious. Each congregation concentrated on a special area of curriculum or administration, for example Presentation Sisters focused on Social Studies and Religion.

Above: Bishop Conaty Memorial High School (formerly Catholic Girls High School) Faculty and Staff, Los Angeles, 1931-1932. Above: Entrance to Bishop Conaty Memorial High School (formerly Catholic Girls School), 1950. Above: Bishop Conaty CSF Honor Students, c. 1950s. Below: Heading to class at Bishop Conaty Memorial High School, c. 1970s.

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Saint Rita School, Sierra M adre, 1936-1942 Saint Rita School, Sierra M adre, 1936-1Saint

Los Angeles M inistries Timeline

Saint Rita School Sierra Madre 1936-1942 Saint Benedict School Montebello 1941-1986 Saint Mary Magdalene School, Los Angeles 1947-1970 At the time of the Sisters’ arrival, the school offered a six year grammar grade course and a newly added two year junior high school

• course. Unfortunately, there are very few archival materials from the

Sisters time in Sierra Madre. Judging by the detailed accounts of community life found in the annals however, it appears the Sisters enjoyed their brief time at the “Dollhouse,” the Sisters’ affectionate name for their small convent (pictured upper right). In August 1942, at the request of the Archbishop, staffing was turned over to the Franciscan Sisters whose provincial house was located in Sierra

• Madre. The school still exists to this day albeit under new leadership.

Right: Saint Rita School, Sierra Madre, CA, c. 1936

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Saint Benedict School, M ontebello, 1941-1986


In 1941, Reverend Albert Brousseau, OSB, pastor of Saint Benedict Parish in M ont ebel l o, asked Si st er s of t he Presentation, San Francisco, to send teachers for the newly built parochial

• school. On August 27, 1941, Sisters M.

Clement Donovan, PBVM , Clotilde Jacobs, PBVM, and Mother Reginald Leahy, PBVM left Our Lady of Lourdes Convent to take up permanent residence in Montebello. The school opened on September 22, 1941, with 246 students in

• attendance. Like the Our Lady of Lourdes

ministry, the Saint Benedict ministry expanded over the years beyond the elementary school. This expansion included various

• utreach activities to the nearby Simon’s Brickyard community (pictured above), teaching

Saturday and evening catechetical classes, and parish visiting. In the spring of 1985, the Presentation Sisters announced that they would no longer be in charge of Saint Benedict Convent and School because no one was available to take the chair of principal. The Franciscan Sisters of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who had already had a presence in the convent for several years, assumed sponsorship. Two Presentation Sisters, Sister Mary Carl Fischer and Frances Sherman, however continued to work in the parish and live in the convent for one more year.

Above: Saint Benedict students and their teacher proudly display their Vacation School project, a hand- drawn biblical timeline, Montebello, CA, 1965 Above: Saint Benedict Community, 1979.

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Saint M ary M agdalene School, Los Angeles, 1947-1970

At the request of the pastor, Fr. John Conlon, Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco once again expanded their presence in Los Angeles by staffing Saint Mary Magdalene School at 1223 South Corning Street. The convent officially opened on August 9, 1947, and the school a short while later in September with a student body of 294 pupils spread across eight grades. On January 11, 1948, both were officially dedicated to the delight and edification of all those in

• attendance. In January 1970, after having hosted several southland Sisters gatherings and

teaching thousands of children, the decision was made to withdraw from the school at the end of the academic year (June 1970). The school was then merged with Holy Spirit School and the Holy Faith sisters provided all the staffing for the newly combined student body. 


Above (left to right, top row to bottom row): First Faculty at Saint Mary Magdalene School, Sisters Paula Guhs, PBVM, Amabilis Meehan, PBVM, Pastor John Conlon, Sisters M. Ursula Lowe, PBVM, Damien O’Connor, PBVM, M. Loyola (former member Sophia Schuster), Lorraine Marie Lucier, PBVM (M. Inviolata), Eileen Diggins, PBVM, and M. Rosalie (former member Mary Rainsford). Above: Saint Mary Magdalen Boys Choir, c. 1950s. Above: Sisters enjoying one of the many Magdalen ‘southland’ gatherings, 1965.

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Los Angeles M inistries Timeline

Our Lady of Loretto High School 1949-1973 (merged with Bishop Conaty High School) Holy Trinity School San Pedro 1950-1990 Individual Ministries

• c. 1970s-2018

Our Lady of Loretto H igh School, Los Angeles, 1949-1973

Our Lady of Loretto High School opened in 1949. It was the first high school to be bui l t un der t he archdiocesan-wide Educat i on Fund Drive sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The school or iginally

• ffered just a two

year program for F r esh m a n a n d Sophomores, with Junior and Senior programming being incorporated later. The school garnered multiple media mentions during the 1950s for its Christian Family Living (CFL) curriculum, and civic appreciation course which sought to awaken an appreciation of the city and community in the students. In 1974, much to the disappointment and shock of the Sisters serving there, the decision was made to withdraw from the school due to an inability to fill the necessary teaching and administrative

• positions. To avoid closure, the school eventually merged with

Bishop Conaty Memorial High School and exists today as Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School.

Above: Newspaper clipping from the L.A. Examiner featuring Sister Peter Claver Schuster, PBVM, teaching the CFL Home Nursing Course at Our Lady of Loretto High School, December 12, 1953. Above: Our Lady of Loretto Faculty giving Cardinal Agagianian a tour of the high school during his visit, c. 1950s

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Holy Trinity School was established on October 4, 1950, in San Pedro. Among its founders (pictured left) were Monsignor George Gallagher, pastor, and Presentation Sisters Joan (William) Murphy, Francis Milanesi, Thaddea Kelly, the first principal and superior, Phillipa Patnude, and Nancy (Frances Teresa) Healy. The school’s enrollment exploded during its first seven years from 334 to 869 students ranging in age from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Enrollment peaked at 940 students in 1958, resulting in an individual class size

• f 50 students per just 15 total teachers.

Around 1972, enrollment began to slowly decline and an increasing number of lay teachers and staff were hired. Sister Pat Elower, PBVM was the last Presentation Sister to serve as principal at Holy Trinity School in 1990, however, the Sisters’ legacy is still felt in the parish through the Presentation Fireside Room at the Holy Trinity Parish Center. The room was dedicated on January 24, 2012, and features pictures of Nano Nagle and a decorative installation with various historical photographs and the names of all the Presentation Sisters who served at Holy Trinity over the forty years. 


H oly Trinity School, San Pedro, 1950-1990

Above: Holy Trinity Faculty and Staff, December 1968. Right: Sisters Joan Riordan, PBVM, Virginia Espinal, PBVM, and Pat Elower, PBVM finding their names on the art installation in the Presentation Fireside Room, Holy Trinity Parish Center, c. 2012.

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In addition to the sponsored schools, beginning around the 1970s and continuing into the late 2010s, a number of San Francisco Presentation Sisters served individual ministries in the Los Angeles County area. These ministries included serving as a teacher, administrator and/ or volunteer at various schools including: Bellarmine-Jefferson High School, Burbank; Dolores Mission School, Los Angeles; San Miguel Catholic School, Los Angeles; Saint Matthias School, Huntington Park; Miraculous Medal School, Montebello; and St. Anthony School in

• Alhambra. Other ministries outside the educational realm included, but are not limited to,

pastoral work at Saint Philip the Apostle Church, Pasadena; juvenile justice advocacy and chaplain work at Central Juvenile Hall, Los Angeles; social services work at House of Ruth, Los Angeles; and service/ work with the Claretian Tape Ministry, Los Angeles. 


I ndividual M inistries, c. 1970s - 2018

Above & Left (left to right, top to bottom): Sister Janet Harris, Chaplain, Central Juvenile Hall; Sister Margaret Webster, Claretian Tape Ministries; Sister Patricia Reinhart, Dolores Mission School; and Sister Rachel Pinal, House of Ruth.

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H onoring the 1973 Corporate Stance in Support

• f the United Farm W orkers (UFW )


In addition to the 100th anniversary of the Sisters arrival in Los Angeles County, 2019 also marks the 46th anniversary of the corporate stance in support of the United Farm Workers that was adopted on August 25, 1973. The stance was i ni ti ally recommended on August 23, 1973, by Sister Margaret Cafferty, PBVM as part of the larger Social Justice recommendations made by Sister Toinette Eugene (former member) on behalf of the congregational Other Apostolates Commi ttee. The recommendation was followed by a lengthy discussion at the conclusion of which Sister Margaret was asked to formulate her committee’s recommendations in the form of a resolution and present it to the Chapter on the following day. That resolution (pictured below) was put to a vote on August 25th and passed by a margin of 24 to 8 with one abstention.

Above: Sister Margaret Cafferty, PBVM, Cesar Chavez and others on the striking grape workers’ 340 mile march to Sacramento, April 2, 1966.

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Archives Call for Class Photographs & M emorabilia

For most Catholic Schools, September is generally considered back to school month. The Archives would like to invite all of you to return to school too or rather to the photographs and memorabilia you may have collected during your time attending or teaching at one or more of the many great Presentation grammar and high schools. If you have class and/ or other school related photographs, yearbooks, or other memorabilia that you are ready to part with, please consider donating the items to the Archives. W e are especially in need of materials from all Presentation grammar schools and the Southern California high

• schools. To donate your materials simply stop by the Archives office or leave the materials in

the Archives mailbox in the Motherhouse. You may also mail your items in a sturdy envelope to: Presentation Archives 2340 Turk Boulevard San Francisco, CA 94118-4340 If possible, please label your materials following the recommendations found on the next

• page. I look forward to seeing your photographs and memorabilia soon!

Above: These are some examples of the types of photographs we are looking for, faculty members in a classroom and interacting with students and a typical class photograph. All schools and all years are accepted.

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H ow to Donate Photographs to the Archives

• 1. Check to see if your photographs are labeled. If they are skip to Step 4. If they

are not, follow steps 2 and 3.

• 2. Label all of your photographs using the following guidelines.
• 1. Write your labels directly on the back of the photos in pencil (ink from pens

can bleed onto other photos) or on post-it notes then stick them to the back of the photos as shown below:

Benefit Dinner (Left tp Right): Sistfrs Katileen Healy, Helene McBride, Nancy Healy, Maryanne Healy, witi Honora Lowe, Motierhouse, 1980s

Front Back

Whenever possible, please include the following information in your labels: Names of everyone in the photo, include congregation if not PBVM Location where the photo was taken, i.e. Motherhouse Date or year or decade the photo was taken, i.e. 4/ 10/ 1960 or 1960 or 1960s

• 3. I f you have too many photographs to label individually please do the

following:

• 1. Group your photos by events, such as Jubilees, or by individual years, such as

1960, or even by decades, such as 1970s

• 2. Place all of the photos belonging to that group in an envelope
• 3. Label the front of that envelope using a non-smearing pen, pencil, or post-it

note, being sure to include the following:

• 1. Your name
• 2. The name of the event or other group

you created, i.e. 1960s

• 3. Date and/ or location of the event/

group, if it is not already listed as seen in the sample pictured on the right.

• 4. Donate your photographs by:
• 1. Visiting the Archives on the first floor of the Motherhouse
• 2. Placing them in the Archives mailbox in the Motherhouse or the 281 Masonic

copy room

• 3. Mail them to 2340 Turk Boulevard, San Francisco, CA, 94118-4340