Ridgewood, Queens, New York
1984 was a very significant year for the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix. We were in the process of selling our 29th Street, Manhattan, New York property; new, smaller communities had been started in Texas and Kansas; a small retired community was in still its early stages in East Greenbush, NY. Because of the sale of our large retreat house/ convent in Manhattan, we realized we would need a good size convent to be converted into a retirement setting for many of our Sisters.
After researching many locations in various dioceses, we settled upon a convent in the parish of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal, Ridgewood, Queens, New York. The convent needed many renovations including installing a small elevator. The pastor of O.L. of Miraculous Medal, Fr. William Davis, welcomed us with great enthusiasm and joy. Though we were no longer living in our beloved Manhattan, if one went up on the roof of the Miraculous Medal convent, the skyline of Manhattan was visible and so the Sisters enjoyed the sense of being near the place that was the origin of our presence in the United States since 1908.
April 14, 1984, saw the arrival of the first Sisters. During the next few days and months other Sisters joined the community growing the number of community members to 15. Our Manhattan altar bread department was moved to Ridgewood and took up residence in most of the basement floor of the convent.
The Sisters participated in a variety of ministries in Miraculous Medal parish and other locations. Sisters were installed as Eucharistic Ministers, worked in the parish sacristy, held evening prayer groups and days of prayers in the convent chapel, offering workshops for lectors, bringing the Eucharist to the homebound, offering spiritual direction among other ministries and 19th annotation retreats, participation in offering the Meals on Wheels program to the homebound.
The Sisters opened their convent chapel to the neighborhood and parishioners by offering some hours of each day for Eucharistic adoration and personal prayer.
The convent, due to its large number of bedrooms, also served as a meeting place for the other SMR USA Region members. Many memorable meetings/sharings took place in this homey space. Over the years other Sisters would join the community and participate in a variety of ministries. The Sisters believed their primary ministry was to be a welcoming community to all who came to their doors. In 2014, the Sisters left Our Lady of Miraculous Medal parish grateful for the thirty years of loving presence and service to and with all those they met along the way.
They began a new ministry in a new location in 2014 in Glendale, Queens, New York. Another chapter was beginning…