The Maryknoll Sisters depart the Marshall Islands this week, ending a 60-year presence, and in September, they will also depart Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, wrapping up long-term involvement in this north Pacific region.
As the Maryknoll Sisters celebrated their 60th anniversary in the Marshall Islands this year, the milestone was more personal for Sr. Rose Patrick St. Aubin, MM, who was Maryknoll’s pioneering sister in the Marshall Islands. She was posted to distant Likiep Atoll beginning in 1950, and now a spritely 81 years of age, is leaving the Marshall Islands this week.
The Maryknoll Sisters have been recognized for their groundbreaking work in outer island schools since Sr. Rose Patrick first set foot at Likiep in 1950.
To celebrate this final windup of their presence, Maryknoll president Sr. Janice McLaughlin, MM, and vice president Sr. Rebecca Macugay, MM, visited Majuro last week from their headquarters in Maryknoll, New York.
“We came to say thank you to them (the sisters) and to the people and church that have supported them for many years,” said Sr. Janice.
Only two sisters are still here — Sr. Rose Patrick and Sr. Carolyn White — though more than 20 worked here since 1950.
The two sisters depart after several years of working with the Ministry of Education and local administrators and teachers to take over management of outer islands schools they have supervised and supported until recently.
Sr. Rebecca said the sisters have shared their educational gifts with the Marshall Islands for many years, but “once people are ready to take the lead,” then it is time for the sisters to move on. She also noted the “reality of diminishing numbers” of sisters and changing priority areas where Maryknoll is devoting its resources as factors in the departure.
The Maryknoll sisters have supervised three Catholic elementary schools on remote islands, while providing assistance to several public elementary schools on the outer islands. Two of the three schools have now been turned over to Ministry of Education management.
“We started working with the Ministry of Education two years ago because we didn’t want to lose momentum in the outer islands schools,” she said.
Last school year, the ministry assumed responsibility for the teachers and the schools, she said. “It’s a boost for the teachers, as they get more pay and the parents don’t have to pay tuition,” she added. The challenge at the former Catholic schools on Wotje and Arno atolls is that they do not have church communities as support systems.
St. Joseph’s elementary school at Jaluit Atoll will remain as a Catholic-run institution, having a church community to back it up. “The community wants to keep it a Catholic school,” she said, adding that a management committee that includes Ministry of Education staff will assist operations of the school. “I think it will go well.”
Catholic schools in the country have consistently placed among the top schools in the country academically despite the absence of highly trained teachers. Sr. Rose Patrick said the Catholic schools in the outer islands have produced strong academic performance among students without having the benefit of teachers with college degrees.
“Our teachers are not degreed,” Sr. Rose Patrick said. “They are ordinary Marshallese, but they are people willing to teach who love children and have done well. It proves that they can do the job and we hope they will continue.”
Sr. Carolyn said that the sisters have pursued a policy of promoting Marshall Islanders as teachers. “We want to show that Marshallese are quite capable to teach,” she said.
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