Sr. Veronica Grover (M. M. Agnese) Click here to e-mail Sr. Veronica
I was the youngest child of my parent’s, Catherine (Reddy) and James Grover, children. As the baby of the family, I enjoyed all the love, attention, and teasing of my older brother and five sisters. I also had two older brothers, both died as infants. My mother was born in Donegal, Ireland, and came to America when she was 17 years old. My father was born in New Jersey, and he was the son of Irish immigrants. When his family later moved to Philadelphia, Pa. he attended St. James’ School where he was taught by Holy Child Sisters. He was a plumber, in business for himself. His heart attack in 1940 brought considerable changes to our family. I was in fifth grade and witnessed my mother’s love and devotion to her disabled husband. Deprived of Dad’s income, we all pitched in to help mother. My sister, Margaret, brother, Jim, and I worked in a neighborhood bakery after school and on Saturdays. A bonus for working there were the pastries and bread we brought home to our family.
Compassion, Adversity, and New Beginnings
Two and a half years after my father’s first heart attack he died, and it was at his wake that, for the first time, I met Holy Child Sisters. Margaret was attending West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pa. and four of her Holy Child teachers came to the wake. I was struck by their compassionate listening as my mother told them all that Dad had suffered. This same humanity and compassion I experienced when I studied at West Catholic High School under the Holy Child Sisters, and these were the qualities that eventually drew me to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.
When I entered the Society on September 12, 1947, I was 17 years old—the youngest in our set of postulants. My claim to fame as a novice was the incident of the “forks in the sausages.” After Sister Petronilla asked me to unlink and fork the sausages, I proceeded to put a separate fork in each one. Only when I asked her for more forks did she realize that I had not understood that I was to pierce each one—with the same fork! As second year novices we spent our time learning to teach. I was always grateful for Emma Virginia’s (M. M. Raymond) sensitivity to my fears. She nurtured my teaching skills until I gained confidence in my abilities.
New Experiences, New Motivation
After my Profession on August 24, 1950, I taught for nine years in grade schools in Melrose, Mass.; St. James in Philadelphia, Pa.; Our Lady of Lourdes in New York, N.Y.; and St. Edward’s in Philadelphia, Pa. After receiving my master’s degree in 1959, I was assigned to teach history at West Catholic High School—my alma mater!
As an alumna, I was excited to be on the faculty which included 21 Holy Child Sisters responsible for the History and Art departments. I enjoyed these teaching years very much. Over the 13 years I taught there, I saw many changes. Our Society was updating itself in conformity with the decrees of Vatican II. A newly-acquired house on Cedar Avenue meant that we could walk to school and no longer needed to be bused from our convent in Sharon Hill. At the same time, both the school and the city of Philadelphia were in the throes of the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests. We were able to introduce African-American History into the curriculum so as to enable all our students to work together to understand different cultures. The diocese ran a summer program on human relations for teachers which I was able to attend. This experience was both life-giving and life-changing for me. My strong commitment to the work of justice and peace stems from those years. During this time, Sr. Elizabeth Fitzmaurice (M. Thomas Mary) our provincial, asked me to organize a committee to educate ourselves in justice and peace issues. This group has continued through the years to challenge us to be more involved in these issues. Added to this, I was involved in the Diocesan Human Relations Commission for several years. During my next three years of teaching at Hallahan High School (also in Philadelphia, Pa.), I was able to initiate an alternative program promoting better human relations. This involved the students in both research and field trips to the city. I had to leave Hallahan in 1975 for a hip replacement. I was delighted to spend six weeks of my recuperation in Anaheim, Calif.—my first trip to the West.
The year 1976 marked a decisive point in my ministry as I began to work for the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) as Director of the newly-established Office for Justice and Peace Education. Dominican Brother Ed Van Merrienboer and I developed the first curriculum for justice and peace education, Seeking a Just Society.
My work at NCEA included travel to various dioceses to give workshops to teachers and an unforgettable trip to Bogota, Columbia for a meeting of the International Organization of Catholic Educators at which I delivered the official paper for the United States. Afterwards, I was able to visit our Sisters in Chile where members of Cardinal Silva’s Human Rights’ Office recounted their sufferings under the military regime. Their words have remained with me as a continual challenge to meet the needs of each day.
While at the NCEA, I received an invitation from Les Schmidt, a Glenmary priest, to help educate the people in the South of the US about the social teachings of the Church. In 1982, our provincial, Sr. Elizabeth Fitzmaurice, missioned me to begin the establishment of a Justice and Peace Education Center in Charlotte, N.C. Named Pacem in Terris, this center was the base from which I traveled to North and South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi giving workshops and providing resources to schools and parishes. Brown Brothers asked me to write a textbook for high school students. The result was Acheiving Social Justice which has been used by many schools throughout the country.
By now there were a number of SHCJ working in the South. As area superior, I visited each one and came to appreciate the beauty and peculiarities of the South. We SHCJ met twice a year for long weekends, at different locations, and rejoiced that we were ministering where Cornelia was once called to serve.
In 1985, Alma Cornelly, SHCJ (M. M. Stephane) joined me and soon became a vital part of our small faith community, ‘The Friday Night Apostles.’ In the 10 years before her death there, she contributed greatly and is still missed by the community.
Another life-changing experience for me was the invitation to attend the Provincial Chapter in Africa in 1985. This was due to my membership in the Society’s Futures Committee. I was able to spend eight weeks in Nigeria where I experienced all I could of the life of our sisters there. Getting to know many of our African sisters was pure delight. I could never look at my world in quite the same way again.
A Fight for Justice
In 1987 St. Luke Catholic Church was established in Charlotte, N.C. with Fr. Joe Mulligan as pastor. The nephew of our Sister Helen Mulligan, he subsequently invited me to become a part of this exciting new project as director of education. For seven years in a storefront, he and I gradually built up a community noted for its welcoming hospitality and outreach to the poor. Even after the move to a large, well-planned church/community center, this same spirit has prevailed.
At first, my principal task was to train lay volunteers. Eventually, they assumed full responsibility for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) and other adult education programs. On the diocesan level, I taught two courses in the lay ministry training program and, until 2004, chaired the Diocesan Justice and Peace Committee.
In 1990, I was commissioned by the Glenmary Research Center to write a case study based on the experiences of women textile workers. Published under the title: Bare Threads: Human Life in the Service of Profit, the study portrays the injustice of the mill system and the silence of the larger community—Including the Catholic Church—toward this injustice.
Jay McCann, SHCJ (M. John Cantius) joined Alma and me in 1994 and, with her dog, Jubilee—she remains as a loved member of the parish. For my golden jubilee in 2000, the parish gifted me with a trip to Rome. I was able to spend a month at Casa Cornelia where Helen McDonald, SHCJ (Sr. Vincent dePaul) and Radegunde Flaxman, SHCJ were generous guides—truly an enriching experience.
Today, I continue as Pastoral Associate at St. Luke’s where we have gathered a large number of SHCJ Associates. Much of my energy now goes into working with them. In many ways, they are our community here, as the number of SHCJ in the South has dwindled. But Sr. Jay and I are well cared for. My main objective is to train and empower the laity whose Baptism gives them the right and the duty to be involved for the sake of the mission of the Church. Their voices need to be heard.
Click here to contact Sr. Veronica Grover (M. M. Agnese).
