Archdiocesan Religious Vocations


Sister Helen Carney takes part in the Archbishop’s administration of confirmation and most important services in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Villanueva.	Sister Helen Carney conducts many services in the church.
Our Lady of Victory Missionaries Our Lady of Victory Missionaries were the first order of sisters started in New Mexico for New Mexicans. Father Joseph Sigstein, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago with health problems, accepted the invitation of friends in northeastern New Mexico to spend a vacation with them in 1914. They took him to visit most of the small towns in the northeastern quadrant of the state. He was struck by their total lack of three important services: health care, religious education, and social services. He thought somebody should do something to help. Back home in Chicago, he interested a friend, Father Anthony Blaufuss, and they decided they were the ones God was calling to do something – found an order of religious sisters to meet the needs in remote and isolated northern New Mexico. After much work and opposition and many disappointments they finally got the necessary approvals and support to start The Society of Catechists of Our Lady of Victory Missionaries. The first two Sisters arrived at Wagon Mound in 1922. They were soon joined by their first lay associate, Will Frey, a young man from Chicago. As more young women from the Midwest and from New Mexico joined the sisters, they extended their ministries – health care, religious education, and social services – to Abiquiú, Albuquerque, Antón Chico, Carlsbad, Cerrillos, Chaperito, Cimarrón, Clayton, Dilia, Dixon, Española, Galisteo, Grants, Holman, Jémez Pueblo, Laguna Pueblo, Las Vegas, Llano, Los Alamos, Madrid, Mora, Ocaté, Pecos, Pintado, Peñasco, Puerto de Luna, Ratón, San Juan, Santa Fe, Santa Rosa, Springer, Tohatichi, Villanueva, Watrous, and many more small towns. Three Sisters now serve in the Archdiocese. Sister Helen Carney, OLVM, parish coordinator in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Villanueva, offers and coordinates many services in this stretch of the Pecos River valley. Sister Clarita Trujillo has served several years in Santa Fe and Española but will soon leave to join the Order’s leadership team in Indiana. Sister Teresa Aparicio-Cervantes serves immigrants in the Casa de Comunidades in Albuquerque. Four lay associates – Alan Bronder, Steve and Palmira Perea-Hay, and Rita Santistevan – help them to continue their long history of service in the Archdiocese. More at www.olvm.org and at phone 260-356-0628

Sister Helen Carney takes part in the Archbishop’s administration of confirmation and most important services in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Villanueva.

Sister Helen Carney conducts many services in the church.

Our Lady of Victory Missionaries

Our Lady of Victory Missionaries were the first order of sisters started in New Mexico for New Mexicans. Father Joseph Sigstein, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago with health problems, accepted the invitation of friends in northeastern New Mexico to spend a vacation with them in 1914. They took him to visit most of the small towns in the northeastern quadrant of the state. He was struck by their total lack of three important services: health care, religious education, and social services. He thought somebody should do something to help.

Back home in Chicago, he interested a friend, Father Anthony Blaufuss, and they decided they were the ones God was calling to do something – found an order of religious sisters to meet the needs in remote and isolated northern New Mexico. After much work and opposition and many disappointments they finally got the necessary approvals and support to start The Society of Catechists of Our Lady of Victory Missionaries. The first two Sisters arrived at Wagon Mound in 1922. They were soon joined by their first lay associate, Will Frey, a young man from Chicago. As more young women from the Midwest and from New Mexico joined the sisters, they extended their ministries – health care, religious education, and social services – to Abiquiú, Albuquerque, Antón Chico, Carlsbad, Cerrillos, Chaperito, Cimarrón, Clayton, Dilia, Dixon, Española, Galisteo, Grants, Holman, Jémez Pueblo, Laguna Pueblo, Las Vegas, Llano, Los Alamos, Madrid, Mora, Ocaté, Pecos, Pintado, Peñasco, Puerto de Luna, Ratón, San Juan, Santa Fe, Santa Rosa, Springer, Tohatichi, Villanueva, Watrous, and many more small towns.

Three Sisters now serve in the Archdiocese. Sister Helen Carney, OLVM, parish coordinator in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Villanueva, offers and coordinates many services in this stretch of the Pecos River valley. Sister Clarita Trujillo has served several years in Santa Fe and Española but will soon leave to join the Order’s leadership team in Indiana. Sister Teresa Aparicio-Cervantes serves immigrants in the Casa de Comunidades in Albuquerque. Four lay associates – Alan Bronder, Steve and Palmira Perea-Hay, and Rita Santistevan – help them to continue their long history of service in the Archdiocese.

More at www.olvm.org and at phone 260-356-0628