The sisters of the Society of St. Margaret surprised many with their announcement in early February that they are selling their Boston convent and moving their operations to their summer retreat property in Duxbury.
PHOTO: Courtesy of SSM
The sisters of St. Margaret at their Boston convent
“The simple fact is that the convent is too large for us and we cannot afford to remain here, especially at a time when we are focusing our limited resources on our mission in Haiti,” the superiors, Sister Carolyn Darr, SSM and Sister Adele Marie, SSM, wrote in a letter to friends and associates.
“The sisters in Haiti have been carrying on valiantly, caring for those whose lives were impacted by the earthquake,” they said, adding: “We sense an urgent need to reconfigure our ministries, to reshape the way we live, so that our limited resources will be as productive as possible.”
There are 17 sisters at the Boston convent, two in Haiti and three serving in ministries in New York City.
Making moves is nothing new to these sisters. The convent, located in the Fort Hill neighborhood of Roxbury, has been the center of the society’s operations only since 1992; prior to that, the sisters operated the facility (originally the home of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison) as a nursing home while living in a convent on Beacon Hill that was established when the society relocated to Boston from England in the 1870s.
The Roxbury property is on the market for $3.3 million; the sisters have an offer from the newly organized Bridge Boston Charter School, pending approval of both its charter and neighborhood zoning.
The sisters’ present plan is to close on a sale and move out of the convent this summer. They will establish a small residence in the city for several sisters who have ongoing urban ministry there. The rest of the sisters will relocate to the society’s guesthouses in Duxbury while construction of a permanent residence there gets underway. They plan to re-open to retreat guests in Duxbury in the fall of 2012.
“The religious life is about responding to God’s call in the here and now, and that’s just what the sisters of St. Margaret are doing. They are being bold with the resources God has given them, and that is sure to be a blessing on their community and the lives their community touches,” Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE said of the sisters’ decision.
The sisters say that what they most want the diocesan community to know is that their decision was a unanimous one they made after a period of prayerful and careful discernment.
“We will continue to live the religious life, with its round of liturgical observances. We welcome others to join us for worship, even during our time of transition. We look forward to new programs of outreach and engagement with congregations on the South Shore and Cape and involvement with other charitable organizations,” the superiors said in an interview via e-mail.
“There come times in the lives of individuals and communities which invite us to examine the way we are living and to reconsider our priorities. ‘For everything there is a season… .’ Our communal life of prayer and ministry led us to consider our resources in the light of contemporary challenges," they said. "We choose ministry over maintenance in response to the working of the Holy Spirit among us.”
--Tracy J. Sukraw