New Leadership Team Announced by RSHM

The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary – Eastern American Area have selected a new area leader and councilors effective August 1, 2024.

Sister Maria Timoney, RSHM, was installed as the new leader at the close of the area’s three-day gathering on July 25. Sister Maria trained as a teacher and worked at St. Bridget’s School in Virginia followed by several years in the Marymount College Admissions Office in Tarrytown, New York. She was then missioned to the Appalachian region of Virginia in 1979. She was involved with community development, community organizing and advocacy, and served as a legal intern with Legal Services of Southwest Virginia. She returned to New York in 1988 to attend CUNY Law School, Queens College. Upon completing her law degree, she returned to Wytheville, Virginia and worked as an attorney for the the Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society. In 2019 she returned to New York when asked to join the Eastern American Area’s leadership team as a councilor. She served in this role until a new council was elected in 2021. She continued legal work for the Eastern American Area and its ministries until her recent appointment as Area Leader.

Two area councilors, Sister Catherine Vincie, RSHM, and Sister Margaret Hoyne, RSHM, were also installed. Sister Catherine served as a councilor for the past nine years and played a central role in the renovation of the Butler Memorial Chapel in Marymount Convent. She received a PhD in Liturgical Theology from the Catholic University of America and taught liturgical theology in several graduate schools. From 1995 to 2015, she served as Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology at the Aquinas Institute of Theology and Ministry in St. Louis. A frequent lecturer, she has written several books, articles, and book chapters about Christian initiation, Eucharist, and liturgy and justice.

With an MS degree in Education from St. John’s University, Sister Margaret served as both teacher and administrator at several schools over 36 years, including St. Pius X, Rosedale, NY, St. Andrew’s in Sag Harbor, NY, St. Catharine of Alexandria in Brooklyn, NY, Good Shepherd in St. Louis, MO, and Marymount International School in Paris, France. In 2005, she joined the staff of the RSHM LIFE Center in Sleepy Hallow, NY, and became Convent Coordinator in 2015. In 2023, she began a new ministry at Cormaria Retreat Center until recently asked to join the new Eastern American Area leadership team.

The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary is an international congregation of women religious whose mission is: “to know and love God, to make God known and loved; to proclaim that Jesus Christ has come in order that all may have life.” (RSHM Constitutions #7) Each sister wears a cross that reads Ut Vitam Habeant, “so that all may have life.” Their lives are built around the common understanding that everyone deserves a life of dignity. Through various ministries, the sisters cultivate a care for the most vulnerable and a care for creation.