Sister Mary Higgins, O.P. died on May 25, the eve of her 90th birthday after a long illness. She had dedicated 70 years to religious life as a Sister of St. Dominic of Amityville, L.I.
Born in Jersey City, she moved to Glendale, where she was a member of St. Pancras parish. She entered the Novitiate in Amityville in 1943 and one year later, received the habit and her religious name Sister Mary Mark.
She taught elementary grades at Good Shepherd School, Marine Park, 1945-56; Queen of the Rosary Academy, Amityville, 1956-63; and Dominican Commercial H.S., Jamaica, 1963-68. She served as principal of St. Elizabeth’s School, Ozone Park, 1968-73; assistant principal at Dominican Commercial H.S., Jamaica, 1972-76; and assistant principal at St. Agnes Academic H.S., College Point, 1976-83.
The congregation called upon her to be office manager at the Motherhouse, 1983-85. She ministered at the Religious Computer Systems in Plainview, L.I., and assisted in the Communications Office.
From 1985 to 1987, she was co-administrator of Villa Maria Convent, Watermill, L.I., and from 1987 to 2011, she was an administration assistant at the Motherhouse as director of materials management.
Because of advancing illness, she retired in March, 2011 and moved to Carlin Hall.
Interment was in the Sisters’ cemetery in Amityville.
Sister Anna O’Connell, R.S.M., 89, a Sister of Mercy of the Americas Mid-Atlantic Community for 70 years, died April 7.
Born in Bayside, she attended Sacred Heart parish and school, and Bayside H.S.
She entered the religious community in 1944 and professed her final vows in 1949 in Dallas, Pa.
Formerly known as Sister Mary Hildegarde, she taught in St. Joseph’s School, Babylon, L.I., 1946-61; St. Martin of Tours, Bethpage, L.I., 1961-62; St. Anastasia, Douglaston, 1974-76; Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, Bayside, 1977-79; and St. Raphael, Long Island City, 1979-86. She also served in several parish schools in Pennsylvania.
She was principal of Sacred Heart School, Bayside, 1967-77, and St. Francis of Paola School, Williamsburg, 1983-89. She was vicariate supervisor for the Brooklyn diocesan Catholic Schools Office, 1977-83.
After her ministry in the schools, she spent many years as a retreat and spiritual director, volunteering as an adult education instructor and as director of Parish Outreach in the Rockville Centre Diocese.
She is survived by her sisters, Eleanor Murphy of Huntington Station, L.I., and Peg Phelan of Clark, N.J.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Sisters of Mercy Convent, Whitestone. Burial was in St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, L.I.
A Mass of Christian Burial for Eleanor Chadzutko, mother of Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Brooklyn was celebrated June 3 at Holy Family Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. She died May 31.
A scholarship fund for students in need to attend Catholic elementary school has been established in her honor.
A memorial Mass will be held in the Diocese of Brooklyn at a later date.
Madeline A. Maher, 72, died May 19, at the Hospice of Boro Park Center, Brooklyn. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Mary, Mother of Jesus Church, Bensonhurst, on Thursday, June 5.
Born in Valley Stream, L.I., she attended St. Boniface School, Elmont, and Elmont Memorial H.S. She worked as a secretary for several years.
She had been a resident of Kings Adult Care Center in Brooklyn (formerly known as Bayview Manor) for many years.
She is survived by her sisters Virginia Connell, Bernadette Warren, Louise Maher and Teresa Pisani, and her brothers Gerald and Peter.
Indian Cardinal D. Simon Lourdusamy, 90, who had been the editor of a Catholic weekly newspaper before coming to Rome to serve as head of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches died June 2 in Rome.
An expert in canon law and liturgy, he went to Rome in 1971 to work at the Vatican, becoming secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 1975. He was made a cardinal in 1985, the same year he was appointed to the Congregation for Eastern Churches – the office responsible for the world’s Eastern-rite Catholics.
He retired in 1991 at age 67 for reasons of health.
