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Then and Now

Joan Mumaw, IHM

Sister Joan Mumaw hails from Marshall, a rural community in southwestern Michigan. With three brothers and a sister, born over 17 years, she grew up in a happy household. People in this area are humble, hard-working, family-oriented, people of faith with high aspirations for goodness,
truth, compassion and justice for the poor. Sister Joan always tries to embody these attributes. Meeting the IHMs in her early years at St. Mary’s Grade School gave her a sense of Church. She learned of its mission to celebrate the singular love for all God’s people. Seeds of a missionary vocation were planted early while reading a copy of Field Afar, the Maryknoll magazine, which she found at her grandmother’s house. Searching for and reflecting on ways to learn more about what makes us human and listening to an interior call, Joan entered the IHMs after a year of college in Ann Arbor. After graduation from Marygrove, Monroe campus in 1965, she began teaching in elementary schools in Detroit. She taught at Immaculata High School while pursuing a degree in cultural anthropology at Wayne State University. Joan worked in the Archives with women whom she honors as mentors in her pursuit of the goals that the Congregation sets as we walk the walk of pilgrims. It wasn’t long before others recognized the greatness of her heart and the depth of her love for the Community. She has served in IHM Leadership and as Provincial of the IHM overseas missions.

In 1975, she responded to a call to teach in the major seminary in Uganda and thus began a love for the people of Africa. Besides a six-year stint in Uganda, she worked for ten years in development for the Catholic Institute of Education in South Africa. Joan’s deep love for the people of Africa is evidenced in her current role as President of Friends of Solidarity, a nonprofit organization located in metropolitan Washington D.C., which she began in 2013 to support the training of teachers, nurses, midwives, farmers and pastoral teams in South Sudan.

Joan expresses her gratitude to the community for all the gifts given and received in her years of formation and beyond. She is grateful for subsequent development and growth opportunities, especially in theology and spirituality. These are counted among her treasures.



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