Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity — an order known all over the world for its work among the poor — is opening a mission in the Diocese of Sacramento.

Sister Nirmala Joshi, head of the Missionaries of Charity, has agreed to have four members of her order live in the former rectory at St. Peter Church in south Sacramento and work with the area’s poor.

The nuns will be officially welcomed to the diocese at a Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia on Wednesday, June 29, at 10 a.m. in St. Peter Church. The Mass will be followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament and benediction, as well as a reception to greet the sisters.

The four nuns who will live in Sacramento are Sister Damascene, originally from India, Sister Jose Clare, a native of Kenya, Sister Christopher, a native of Colombia, and Sister Paulinetta, a native of Bangladesh. Sister Damascene and Sister Jose Clare are coming from the order’s mission in San Francisco.

Sister Damascene, who will serve as the local superior, and Sister Jose Clare were in Sacramento June 7 to visit their new home and surrounding neighborhood. They were joined by Sister Deepam, the order’s regional superior for the Western United States, Canada and Mexico, and Sister Francis Therese, who works at a home for AIDS patients run by the Missionaries of Charity in Pacifica.

Sister Deepam said that in addition to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Missionaries of Charity take a fourth vow to give “whole-hearted free service to the poorest of the poor.” For support, she said, the order depends entirely on God’s charity.

In Sacramento, the sisters “will be visiting people in the neighborhood and seeing what the needs are, before we decide how we might best help,” Sister Deepam said. “They may teach religious education, visit nursing homes or visit prisoners, but we want to leave our minds open as to what the needs are.”

In the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Missionaries of Charity, in addition to ministry to AIDS patients in Pacifica, run a home for unwed mothers near Daly City and a formation house and novitiate at St. Paul Parish in San Francisco. Sister Deepam said there are 41 novices from North and South America currently in formation.

Sister Damascene, who entered the Missionaries of Charity in 1978 and has served in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Gallup, N.M., and Phoenix, Ariz., said she is looking forward to her new ministry in Sacramento.

“All I hope is that we can help people,” she said. “Our goal is to pray with them and work with them in any way we can.”

“Basically our mission is to bring Jesus to people — that’s the main thing,” added Sister Jose Clare, who entered the Missionaries of Charity in 1995 in her native Kenya.

The decision by the Missionaries of Charity to open a mission in Sacramento has been a decade in the making. Bishop William K. Weigand invited the order to open a house in the diocese more than 10 years ago.

A year ago, the bishop asked Father Michael Kiernan, diocesan director of social service ministry, to follow up on the request. He met with Sister Nirmala last October when she was in San Diego to accept the vows of some new members of her order.

“Sister Nirmala said, ‘So your bishop wants us to come to Sacramento,’” Father Kiernan recalled from the visit. “I said yes. After we talked some more, she said, ‘In the Year of the Eucharist in June it will be done.’ So here it is June and it’s all coming to be.”

Father Kiernan said for the first few months the sisters “will be checking things out, and the Lord will lead them to what they want to do.”

The priest said he will introduce the nuns to people from various local organizations that work in prison ministry or help the homeless or the dying.

“It will be obvious to the sisters eventually where they will want to help,” Father Kiernan said. “It’s a great blessing to have them here and it’s been a joy to get to know them personally.”

Sister Beatriz Gomez, a member of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament and former principal of St. Peter School, which closed this month, said the Missionaries of Charity will be moving into neighborhood with a diversity of ethnicities and cultures.

“The needs of the people vary a lot, many are in tight financial situations and there are many single parents,” Sister Gomez said. “But as far as their faith goes, they are very devoted. I see the sisters fitting in nicely.”

A survey of St. Peter parishioners in 2002 showed the ethnic makeup of the parish as 44 percent Latino, 21 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 20 percent white, 3 percent African American and 3 percent Native American. Fifty-five percent of the parishioners answering the survey said they had children living at home in grades 1 through 6.

Bishop Garcia said he was “extremely grateful” for the anticipated arrival of the four Missionaries of Charity. He said he has known members of the order since the 1980s when he studied in Rome and celebrated Mass at Missionaries of Charity houses there.

“Their presence here will add a great deal of affection for the church, because there’s so much love for Mother Teresa, and these sisters carry on her beautiful, evangelical mission,” he said. “Coming from four different countries, the sisters will reflect the ethnic diversity of our diocese. Their strength will be to work with the poorest of the poor.”

With the addition of the house in Sacramento, the Missionaries of Charity have 15 houses in the Western United States. There are currently about 300 sisters in North America, working in 47 houses in the United States and five in Canada and Mexico. The order has both active and contemplative branches.

Sister Deepam said the sisters will be remodeling the rectory at St. Peter slightly to include a chapel for Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The chapel will eventually be open to the public for prayer with the sisters, she said.

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