Sister Marie Clark celebrates 100 years!
When Sister Marie Clark looks back on 100 years of life, she doesn’t begin with a list of accomplishments. She begins with gratitude.“For my vocation, my love of God, my health, my energy, my love of people, my community and my discernment and decision to transfer to the Monroe IHMs,” she says.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, Sister Marie will celebrate her 100th birthday, a century marked by faith, education, ministry, adventure, change and, throughout it all, a deep awareness of God’s presence.
Her story began in Roxborough, a small community just outside Philadelphia, where she was the first child of Alphonse and Leona Reichert Clark. She was baptized Mary Elizabeth Clark, although she has been called Marie throughout her life. A particularly meaningful childhood memory came in May 1933, when Marie and her mother made their First Communion together. Her mother had recently completed her classes to become Catholic, having converted from the Lutheran Church. But a third-grade teacher first planted the seed of religious life.
Sister Assumption was funny. She was also strict. And she was happy in what she was doing. That combination captivated Marie. “I always, always wanted to be a sister. Since I was in third grade,” she recalls. No Catholic schools existed in Roxborough, so Marie walked four miles each day to attend Holy Family School in Manayunk, where the IHM Sisters taught. Later, she traveled by bus and trolley to Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School in Philadelphia.
She realized she wanted to follow the example of the sisters who had influenced her. “It was an inner conviction that this is where I belong,” she says. “It felt very secure and right.” Her parents were happy with her decision. On Aug. 15, 1944 — the Feast of the Assumption — they drove Marie, her two brothers, Dick and Joe, and her Irish grandmother to the IHM Motherhouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Marie remembers the day clearly. “There were smiles and hugs but no tears,” she recalls. That day marked the beginning of her 80-year IHM journey, taking Marie from Philadelphia to Chile, from classrooms to parish ministry, from high schools to college campuses, and eventually to the IHM community in Monroe.
Teaching was woven through much of Marie’s life. Her first classroom assignment was a combination third and fourth-grade class. The two groups sat on opposite sides of the room and Marie wasn’t sure how she would manage it all. Eventually, she found her home in high school education. English became her favorite subject and she earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English. Over the years, she taught English and Spanish, supervised yearbooks, directed activities and served as a vice principal and principal. She taught in Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey and even spent summers teaching college students. “I was teaching year-round,” she remembers. But education was about more than subjects and schedules. For Sister Marie, it was about relationships. “The greatest joy has been teaching and interaction in community life,” she says.
One experience that left the deepest mark on Marie came in Santiago, Chile. After her final vows and several years of teaching in Pennsylvania, she spent six years at Villa Maria in Santiago, teaching high school girls during the week. On weekends, she traveled with the Maryknoll Fathers to serve some of Chile’s poorest families. The children and babies she encountered there remained close to her heart. “I was so happy that I spent my six years in Chile with a lot of them every weekend,” she says. “That has made a big impact on my life.”
In 1988, after 44 years as a Philadelphia IHM, Marie transferred to the IHM Sisters of Monroe. The decision was deeply connected to the changes taking place in the Church following the Second Vatican Council. “Exciting,” is how Marie describes experiencing Vatican II. She had been reading about the changes in Rome and felt drawn to a community embracing the Council’s vision. “I couldn’t wait,” she says. When she arrived in Monroe, she came alone. She didn’t know the younger sisters who were also coming from Philadelphia, and she knew she was stepping into something new. I wanted to be with people who believed and were working to change their ways, their manners and their customs into something new and exciting.” Her transfer proved to be one of the great gifts of her life. It was very, very good,” she says.
Once in Monroe, Sister Marie began working at the St. Mary Conference Center. After 10 years, she took a sabbatical at Berakah in New Hampshire, an experience she describes beautifully: “I gained spiritual wings.” She returned briefly to teaching at St. Mary of Redford before moving into ministry at a conference center in the foothills of Virginia. From there, she went to St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Parishes in Louisa and Mineral, Virginia, where she spent 13 years as a pastoral associate, faith formator and spiritual director. Of all the ministries she has experienced, counseling remains especially meaningful to her. “I liked doing it,” she says. Her ministry was always changing, but the thread running through it remained the same: accompanying people.
For Sister Marie, a century of life has also meant a century of growing into a deeper relationship with God. “It has grown through Scripture. It has grown through meditation. And asking God to open my mind and my soul. To know Him, to love Him more, and to do what I can for Him and His people.” Prayer, retreats and a particular devotion to Mary have sustained her. The Feast of the Assumption has held special significance since the day she entered religious life. I like all of Mary’s feast days,” Marie says. “Woman to woman, we can relate!” She also has a deep devotion to St. Ann and St. Cecilia. In religious life, she was once known as Sister Anne Cecilia, a name that connected her personally with the saint whose courage as a martyr she greatly admired.“Above all, I’m grateful to God,” she says. “God’s influence and graces and blessings. That’s first and foremost because everything comes from that.”
Sister Marie has witnessed extraordinary changes in the Church and the world during her lifetime. She has seen the transformation of religious life, the growing emphasis on higher education for women religious, the renewal that followed Vatican II, and the evolution of ministry from traditional classroom teaching to pastoral ministry, spiritual direction and counseling.
A Century of change and joy
Her brother, Dick, died suddenly several years ago, but her younger brother, Joseph, remains close to his “big sister” and will be among those helping her celebrate her 100th birthday. Sister Marie’s extended family and former students will also travel to Monroe to mark this special milestone. They will spend the weekend with her before joining her IHM Sisters and friends from the IHM community for the festivities on Monday, Sept. 28 at the Motherhouse.
Sister Marie admits that she is surprised to have lived this long. And she is grateful. “I’m grateful to God for my mind,” she says. “Because I’m aware of what’s going on. And that’s a blessing.” Today, Marie participates in community life as her energy allows. She enjoys meetings, gatherings and the activities she can attend. She currently lives in assisted living and remains deeply connected to the people around her.
Sister Marie has spent a century receiving each day as a gift, meeting what came with faith, curiosity, energy and an openness to where God might lead. Her advice for the next generation is remarkably simple. “Take each day as you find it. All the good things you can do and experience, and live through.” And if there is one lesson she has carried through 100 years, it is the lesson given to her by an IHM Sister when Marie was a young religious. “Put Jesus first, other people second and yourself last.” She has tried to live it ever since.
Looking back, Marie says her heart is filled with love and gratitude—for her parents and family, her teachers and students, her communities, her ministries, the people who have accompanied her, and above all, God.