IHM 1919-1974

 

Michel Keenan's Book

Purchase the BookPurchase The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, Pennsylvania: 1919:1974 by Sister Michel Keenan, IHM from Amazon.com
Published by: RoseDog Books

St. Dominic School, Oyster Bay, New York
The newly appointed sisters arrived at St. Dominic's in Oyster Bay, New York, on August 1, 1924, and took up their residence in a large, comfortable dwelling that had been purchased for a convent.

St. Raphael School, St. Petersburg, Florida
Unlike most of the new missions accepted by the IHM Congregation, St. Raphael’s in St. Petersburg, Florida was a well-established school with a lay faculty before the IHMs arrived in 1966.

Pocono Catholic Missions, Cresco, Pennsylvania
A study of the map of the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania reveals that this part of the Scranton Diocese, southwest and southeast of the city of Scranton, is dotted with resort towns and rural villages.

IHM Academy, Coeur d' Alene, Idaho
The IHM Academy in Coeur d' Alene was one of only three high schools in the state. St. Theresa's, Boise and St. Gertrude's, Cottonwood, were the other two.

St. Clare Elementary School, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Planted deeply in the history of St. Paul's Parish, Scranton, Pennsylvania, are the roots that supported its expanding branches, St. Clare's School, Convent and Church, dedicated on March 20, 1955.

St. Henry Elementary School, Gresham, Oregon
Gresham, Oregon is located twelve miles east of Portland, just five miles from the famous Columbia River, in a valley with scenic Mount Hood towering as a backdrop forty miles away.

Immaculate Conception Chapel School, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Founded in 1872 as the first Catholic School in Scranton and originally named St. Cecilia's Academy.

St. Joseph’s Children’s and Maternity Hospital, Scranton, Pennsylvania (now known as St. Joseph's Center)
The long history of St. Joseph’s Center, dating from its founding as St. Joseph’s Society in 1888, saw many location changes, name changes, and clientele changes.

Sacred Heart Elementary and High Schools, La Plata, Maryland
Natural disasters have a way of unpredictably altering the course of history and of charting a new course of events. Such was probably the case when the "great tornado" struck La Plata, Maryland, on November 9, 1926. (Renamed Archbishop Neale Elementary and High Schools)

St. Joseph School, New Bern, North Carolina
In 1926 Mother Casimir sent the first IHMs to St. Joseph's, New Bern, where a school had been established for "colored children" and conducted by lay people.

Mother of Mercy School, Little Washington, North Carolina
On August 30, 1927 four IHM Sisters arrived in Little Washington, North Carolina to begin a school that educated white and black children during the 1920's through 1960's.

Sacred Heart of Mary Elementary School, Jermyn, Pennsylvania
Sacred Heart of Mary parish school opened formally on September 15, 1930, with 250 students registered in five grades.

Mt. Carmel and St. Edward Catechetical Center, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania
The influence of Pennsylvania's strong ethnic presence within the Catholic Church is evident in the very interesting history which found two Barnesboro pastors, located just five blocks from one another, both seeking sisters the same year for identical ministries in their parishes.

Notre Dame High School, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
A forty-acre plot was purchased in East Stroudsburg, about two miles from St. Matthew’s Rectory, as the site for the new high school. The site had easy access from several main streets and a view of the Delaware Water Gap. Ground was broken on April 22, 1966, with priests, sisters, officers of parish organizations and pupils from St. Matthew’s grades five through eight in attendance. Monsignor Cawley, pastor, conducted the ceremony.

Completion of Liberal Arts Building and Rotunda at Marywood College
September 1935, permission was sought from the bishop to contact an architect and arrange for ideas to be submitted for the murals, painting and decoration of the domed ceiling to complete the Rotunda and the Liberal Arts Building at Marywood.

Mining Fires at Marywood College
Many improvement projects were being complete at Marywood College until these projects were destroyed by underground mining fires on the college campus.

Costello Nursery School, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Cosetello Nursery School was opened during World War II to provide child care to mothers who were forced to work outside the home while husbands, fathers and brothers were fighting over seas.

IHM Novitiate Building, Scranton, Pennsylvania
The building for which Mother Kathleen is best remembered is the IHM Novitiate. This building was Mother Kathleen’s plan to provide candidates and novices with enlarged space in a new building. The influx of some forty-five postulants yearly, and approximately eighty novices in the novitiate at a given time in the two-year cycle, resulted in extremely crowded conditions at the motherhouse.

Our Lady of Grace Convent, Manhasset, New York
On January 6, 1959, J. Peter Grace, Jr. of Manhasset, New York offered the Congregation a gift of land and buildings adjacent to his estate. This property soon became known as Our Lady of Grace Convent.

Habit Experimentation
In the Chapter of 1962, at the beginning of Mother Beata’s term of office as superior general, the results of the referendum were presented. In spite of the fact that 58% of the sisters opposed any change of the habit, it was nevertheless clear that Mother Beata would soon need to address this matter in which nearly one-half of the Congregation desired some change.

Convento Cristo Rey, Ponce, Puerto Rico
A letter dated October 19, 1963, from Reverend Higinio Madrazo, CM., pastor of the new Christ the King Parish in Ponce, Puerto Rico, solicited at least three sisters needed by May 1964 to staff a K-5 school in the parish of Cristo Rey.

Marywood Motherhouse Fire
“Marywood’s Motherhouse Destroyed by flames”; “Nine Nuns Injured in Marywood Fire”; “About 140 Removed By Police, Firemen in General Alarmer”; “Pope Paul’s Sorrow Passed to Marywood.” These, and many, many more columns announced the news of the devastating fire at the Marywood Motherhouse in the early morning hours of February 22, 1971.

St. Matthew School (Woodcrest), Wilmington, Delaware
Today's observer of the beautiful physical plant--church, rectory, school and convent--which have been developed in St. Matthew's Parish, Wilmington, Delaware, could not easily imagine the difficulties experienced by our sisters at the time of their first coming to Delaware in 1942.

Little Flower Elementary School, Bethesda, Maryland
The school the Muskies selected was, of course, Little Flower School, which had opened on October 1, 1953, and was staffed by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

St. Mary John Elementary School, Cresson, Pennsylvania
The Sisters of IHM had staffed St. John and St. Mary's orphan homes for boys and girls since January 4, 1909, and September 24, 1917, respectively. Until the year 1928, however, separate grade schools were maintained in each home.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary School, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Asbury Park was the first venture of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Trenton, New Jersey Diocese.

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Elementary School, Forest Hills, New York
On January 5, 1928, ground was broken for the school which was the first of the proposed cluster of buildings. The cornerstone of the school was laid on May 30, 1928, at which time Father McLaughlin announced that he expected the building to be completed for the opening of school in September.

St. Ambrose Catechetical Center/Elementary School, Bridgeport, Connecticut
The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were not strangers to the pastor and people of St. Ambrose Parish, Bridgeport, when they went to establish a Catechetical School there in l944. Our sisters from Devon had taught religious instructions in summer sessions prior to 1944, commuting from Devon.

St. Paul Elementary School, Edgewood, Rhode Island
The enthusiastic response of Mother Casimir to Father McCabe's request for sisters reveals her pleasure at the prospect of sending pioneer IHMs to this first IHM mission in the New England states.