Eight Marianite sisters celebrate jubilees April 26

Eight Marianites of Holy Cross will celebrate anniversaries of entrance into the Congregation on April 26 at 10:30 a.m. in the Our Lady of Holy Cross Moreau Center Chapel in New Orleans.

Six of the sisters will take part in the jubilee ceremonies marking 50, 60, 70 and 75 years as members of their religious congregation. In addition, four other sisters will be celebrating anniversaries later this year in France. The Marianites of Holy Cross came to Louisiana in 1848 to minister to the needs of the times in education and care of the orphans.

Sister Enda Eileen Byrne (75 years) is a native of New York and journeyed to Louisiana to enter the Marianites of Holy Cross with the intent to become a missionary working in the bayous of Louisiana. Sister Enda spent the next 50 years teaching in 10 Catholic schools and three public schools in Plaquemine, Opelousas, Ville Platte, Houma, Algiers, New Orleans and Kenner. She also taught catechism in and around the bayous of south Louisiana. She was one of three sisters in Plaquemine Parish to brave the integration of classes during the early 1960s. Despite being threatened with incarceration, the sisters successfully overcame the obstacles to see the very first integrated First Communion class in the parish. She holds doctorates from Loyola University and the University of Mississippi. She served as president of Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Sister Enda served for 15 years with the Hispanic community teaching immigrants English and students with special needs and behavioral disorders, plus did volunteer work at St. Jerome Church in Kenner with ESL and the Hispanic Community.

Sister Audrey Strassel