To celebrate 150 years of service by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in California, St. Joseph Parish in Marysville has planned a “festival of appreciation” Oct. 13-14.

The two-day event is a joint effort linking Marysville, where the sisters served at Notre Dame School from 1856 to 1972, and Yuba City, where they staffed the former Holy Angels School from 1955 to 1981.

“The whole effort is meant to show our deep gratitude for the sisters’ service,” said Karen Brown, administrative assistant at St. Joseph Parish.

Festivities begin with a reception and reunion for Notre Dame and Holy Angels alumni on Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. followed by a Mass of Appreciation at 5:30 p.m. The Mass will be celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand. Concelebrants will be Father Soane Kaniseli, St. Joseph parochial administrator, and Father Juan Perez, St. Joseph parochial vicar.

Music for the Mass will be provided by the parish and school choirs and the Tongan community of Sacramento. A dinner and auction at 7 p.m. in the parish hall is also planned.

On Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., a carnival and car show will feature a continental breakfast, a variety of ethnic foods, games, face painting, craft items and a religious store.

Musical entertainment and dancing are also planned.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur arrived in Marysville in 1856 and supervised the construction of a large brick house which served as a convent, a boarding residence for students and an elementary and secondary school. The high school closed in 1970 and the elementary school remained under the direction of the sisters until they withdrew in 1972.

Sarah Sullivan, a St. Joseph parishioner who was taught by the sisters in her elementary and high school years, is today a teacher at nearby Yuba College. She says the education she received from the sisters changed her life.

“I’ve never taught a lesson without referring to what the sisters taught me,” said Sullivan, who also teaches Rite of Christian Initiation classes at her parish. “I cherished them because they thoroughly grounded me in the faith.”

In Yuba City, the sisters opened Holy Angels School, later renamed St. Isidore, in 1955 and continued their service there until 1981.

The sisters also educated Catholic students in Chico, beginning in 1928 when they opened Notre Dame School with five sisters and 130 students. They continued to staff the school until 1974.

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur arrived in Folsom in 1962 where they formed a convent and school which they staffed until their withdrawal in 1983.

Other areas of the diocese where the sisters served include the former Bishop Armstrong and St. Francis Catholic High Schools in Sacramento. They also taught religious education at Camp Beale (later Beale Air Force Base) near Marysville and in the communities of Gridley, Orland, Chico and Quincy.

Copyright © 2001 Diocese of Sacramento - All Rights Reserved

[Catholic Herald - Cover Page]