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Nun combines two passions

Ursuline graduate follows love of church, education

Submitted photo Sister Mary McCormick consults with Chad Johnson, left, and William Wainio at St. Mary’s Seminary and Graduate School of Theology last January in Cleveland. Johnson and Wainio are seminarians with the Diocese of Youngstown and are studying at St. Mary’s.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com.

CANFIELD — Unless two lines in the same direction are parallel, they will meet at some point.

The same can be said of the trajectory that Sister Mary McCormick’s two passions took.

“I first began thinking about the ministry in high school; after high school I went to Youngstown State University and thought to myself, ‘I’ll forget all about that,'” remembered Sister Mary, 65, of Youngstown, who planned to major in education to become a teacher.

Nevertheless, Sister Mary, a 1973 Ursuline High School graduate who grew up in the Youngstown area, also became interested in entering religious life. As a result, she joined the Ursuline Sisters in 1975 and has enjoyed a long career in which she brought together education and religious studies.

She now serves as mother superior for the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, 4250 Shields Road.

During the mid- and late 1970s, Sister Mary was adept at multi-tasking, because she was working for the Ursuline Sisters while conducting student teaching and attending YSU, from which she graduated in 1978 with a degree in education. Her passion was language arts and English, Sister Mary said.

Beginning in September 1978, she was assigned instead to teach religion courses at her alma mater instead of English because English teachers were considerably easier to find, she explained.

That didn’t mean her enrichment and forays into higher education ceased, however.

“I took theology when it fit into my teaching schedule. The Diocese of Youngstown began a partnership with Ursuline College in Cleveland,” Sister Mary said, adding she studied at Ursuline College’s Youngstown extension.

In addition, she took a one-year leave of absence from teaching to earn a master’s degree in theology in 1986 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. That led to a four-year career starting in 1987 as a school consultant for religious education with the Diocese of Youngstown, then under Bishop James W. Malone.

“I was the first and only person to hold that job,” Sister Mary said.

In the early 1990s, multi-tasking again was a mainstay of her professional life, because Sister Mary served as pastoral associate for St. Mary Parish in Conneaut — where she worked with high school students in a religion program and conducted weekend liturgies — while simultaneously working for the Ursuline Sisters. The latter position saw her in part assisting newer members to become better acclimated to religious life.

However, one puzzle piece was missing: a doctorate degree that would allow her to teach at a college level. She fit that piece together by earning such a degree in theology from Fordham University in New York City, which she described as one of the premier universities for theological studies. That paved the way for Sister Mary to achieve her “dream job” of teaching graduate students at St. Mary’s Seminary in Wickliffe, near Cleveland.

She also worked with seminarians, along with those who sought to be permanent deacons and lay people who desired to counsel others in nursing homes and hospitals, for example.

She and the Ursuline Sisters’ ministries also are highly attuned to addressing today’s primary societal struggles that include the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, political turmoil and an uncertain, faltering economy, Sister Mary explained.

Those ministries include a children’s program that features tutoring, enrichment and activities; a cafe for socialization and meals, as well as dry goods to take home; and Beatitude House, which helps provide housing for homeless women and children, and offers an Ursuline Sisters’ scholars program especially for single parents attending college. Others are an immigrant outreach effort to help them learn English, handle job interviews and become acclimated to American culture; and a clinic for people with HIV / AIDS, Sister Mary noted.

She also wanted to remind those struggling with today’s difficult times and hardships that they’re not going it alone.

“The first thing I say to people is that God didn’t cause these things to happen,” she said, referring to the health crisis, racial tensions and political strife. “God has always been faithful and is with people, even in the most dire of circumstances. Trust that God is still faithful and will see us through these difficulties.”

Sister Mary also advised people to follow health guidelines laid out by scientists and to promote racial harmony by first examining themselves.

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