As 2021 began, still deep in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Sisters of the Holy Names welcomed a new leadership team in the U.S.-Ontario Province. Members of the team started their term like no other team before them – setting their priorities, meeting with committees and directing lay staff all via Zoom for the sake of health and safety.
Even the leadership transition ritual in January was virtual, with Sisters and Affiliates ringing bells at home and waving at one another from their computer screens instead of chapel pews.
The Province Leadership Team, selected through a long discernment process that unfolded through most of 2020, includes six Sisters with diverse backgrounds, ministries and interests. Here are brief introductions to each.
Diane Enos, SNJM was born and raised on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Sr. Diane came to California to attend Holy Names College in Oakland, CA, then entered the SNJM community after graduation in 1966. She taught at Holy Names High School and Holy Names College, both in Oakland, for about 20 years before earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at St. Louis University in Missouri. She worked as a clinical psychologist in Northern California for another 20 years before retirement. For the past several years she has been active in a variety of USON committees.
A native of San Francisco, Marcia Frideger, SNJM was educated by Holy Names Sisters at St. Anselm’s School in San Anselmo, CA and Marin Catholic High School. She entered the novitiate in 1963, had her juniorate at College of the Holy Names, earned a master’s degree in organizational behavior at Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. at University of CA, Irvine. She taught at St. Ignatius Elementary School in Sacramento, Holy Names High School and Holy Names University in Oakland, and Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. She previously served on the Province Leadership Team from 2011-2015. In recent years, she ministered as SNJM liaison with the Sisters of the Holy Family and as Candidate Director.
Originally from Eugene, OR, Carol Higgins, SNJM entered the SNJM community in Portland. She taught at Holy Cross and Holy Redeemer in Portland and St. Peter’s in Ontario, OR, where she became principal. After getting her Master of Divinity degree from Marylhurst University and Doctor of Ministry in Christian Spirituality degree from Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., she taught and worked in campus ministry at Marylhurst University, later joining the faculty of St. Mary’s Academy in Portland.
Linda Patrick, SNJM was born in Portland, OR and grew up in Holy Redeemer parish, taught by Holy Names teachers. After entering the Sisters of the Holy Names in 1967, she obtained an education degree from Marylhurst College and taught at St. Ignatius, Holy Redeemer and The Madeleine School in Portland. She spent 20 years as an administrator at St. Mary’s Academy, while serving on SNJM committees including taking the lead in organizing the Sisters’ most significant recent events, the provincial Chapters held in 2018 and 2020. She is a longtime volunteer with Saint André Bessette Church’s ministry to guests who live on the streets or in single rooms in downtown Portland.
For decades, St. James Cathedral in Seattle relied on the calm and analytical mind of Mary Slater, SNJM, who served as their longtime bookkeeper. With a degree in Accounting from Western Washington State College, she is a valued member of the HNA Board of Trustees and Finance Committee, as well as a trustee of the SNJM Charitable Trust. A Sister since 1983, St. Mary served on the Leadership Discernment Committee that guided the process of discerning the incoming PLT.
Maureen Delaney, SNJM, who has served as provincial leader since 2016, is continuing in that role. Sr. Maureen attended Holy Names High School in Oakland and after becoming a Sister, taught at St. Augustine’s, Our Lady of Lourdes, Old Saint Mary’s and St. Francis de Sales schools in Oakland. She became active in supporting community leaders in West Oakland and did that work for years, including her time on the staff of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral. In 1987, she visited the Mississippi Delta, which led to her return to the Delta to start the Outreach Department of the Tutwiler Clinic. That led to the founding the Tutwiler Community Education Center, where Sr. Maureen led educational and recreational programs for nearly 30 years.