Sr. Constance Dodd, SM, a Marist Sister, died peacefully on Friday, Aug. 8, in the loving care of her community. She was born June 4, 1933, in Ballindoon, County Sligo, Ireland, the seventh of eight children.
She was 21 when she entered the Marist Sisters in Ireland, having attended their boarding school during her high school years. She came to the United States in 1956, the last surviving member of the first five Marist Sisters who brought the community in the U.S. She attended college at Marygrove, and taught at St. Albert the Great School in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, which she also served as principal. Moving to Canada, she had some happy years in the school system in the Province of Quebec. She served in the General Administration in Rome, Italy, which allowed her to experience the poverty in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, where the Marist Sisters minister in some poorer areas.
She ministered for 12 years in Wheeling, West Virginia, with the poor and homeless at the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center. She really loved the ministry there, and was in many ways the face of service to the most disadvantaged of the area. She said once that, at the end of each day, she could say: “The hungry were fed today. The poor were clothed. The sick were visited.” During those years, she received from Pope Benedict XVI the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, the highest honor a non-cleric can receive in the Church. She valued even more highly the honorary doctorate she received from Wheeling Jesuit University for her committed service to the poor.
Her last years were spent in Michigan, where she continued to serve the Marist Sisters’ congregation and beyond in many ways. May Constance rest in God’s peace in the company of her family, Sisters and friends.
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