Presentation Sisters celebrate 60- and 70-year Jubilees

By Jan Potts

A celebration of 60 and 70 years of religious life took place Sunday, April 23, at the Sisters of the Presentation Motherhouse in San Francisco. Family and friends gathered for Mass and a luncheon. 

Congregation President Sister Rosina Conrotto told the nine Jubilarians that, “Like Jesus and like Nano [Nagle, foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation Order], you have a heart for those made poor and for those most marginalized in our society. And, like Jesus and like Nano, you have responded with love and with hope, with compassion and with justice.” 

Mass included renewal of vows, with the Jubilarians holding candles and joined by their entire community.

In his homily, celebrant Father John Whitney, SJ noted, “The Sisters whose Jubilees we honor have not been servants to a far-away God, not bound up in supplication to an absent deity; rather, they are companions on the road. Listen to the fire in their hearts. With their hospitality and attentiveness, they have come to know and to testify to the living God. They have walked with the stranger in schools and in counseling centers, on the street, and in their own community. They have nourished their faith through their companionship along the road with so many other Sisters, those living and those who have passed on. It was not just their hearts they lifted up to the Lord, but it was their….arms and their legs, their joys, their sorrows, the whole of their lives.”

Each Sister’s name is linked to an online biography. Additional details and photos of the Jubilee celebration may be found at presentationsisterssf.org/jubilees-2023.

70 years

Jubilee of Grace from Entrance
Sister Virginia Espinal, PBVM
June 30, 1953
presentationsisterssf.org/virginia-espinal

Sister Marilyn Medau, PBVM
June 30, 1953
presentationsisterssf.org/marilyn-medau

Sister Anita Marie Torres, PBVM
August 21, 1953
presentationsisterssf.org/anita-torres

Sister M. Denise Bourdet, PBVM
September 11, 1953
presentationsisterssf.org/denise-bourdet

Jubilee of Grace from Profession
Sister Ann Therese Lynch, PBVM
February 21, 1953
presentationsisterssf.org/ann-therese-lynch

60 years

Diamond Jubilee from Entrance
Sister Joanna Bruno, PBVM
September 1, 1963
presentationsisterssf.org/joanna-bruno

Sister Judith Romero, PBVM
September 1, 1963
presentationsisterssf.org/judith-romero

Diamond Jubilee from Profession
Sister Michele Anne Murphy, PBVM
August 17, 1963
presentationsisterssf.org/michele-anne-murphy

Sister Paula Baker, PBVM
August 17, 1963
presentationsisterssf.org/paula-baker

Jan Potts is the communications director for the Sisters of the Presentation.