July 29, 1929 – January 27, 2023

Margaret Mary Cosgrove was born on July 29, 1929 to James and Anna Cosgrove in Bayonne, New Jersey. Both of her parents were from Ireland. Peggy was baptized at Sr. Andrew Parish in Bayonne on August 4, 1929. Peggy, always very close to her family, had three brothers, Jim, Tom and Daniel, and two sisters, Terry and Nancy. She stayed connected to her nieces and nephews and their children over the years.

Peggy was a member of our sisters’ lay branch, the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate, for three years before she entered our community on September 24, 1948. In the Novitiate, she was given the name Sr. James Ann of the Holy Spirit. She made her first profession on March 25, 1950 and her Perpetual Profession on March 25, 1953. When she asked permission to take her final vows she wrote, “I ask permission with all my heart, to take final vows in our community. On first profession I felt that, as far as I was concerned that was final.” In 1979 she returned to her Baptismal Name, Margaret Mary and asked to be called Peg or Peggy.

Peggy was truly a lifelong learner. In 1961 she attended a course at Catholic University in methods of teaching Catholic students. She really appreciated that course since she was already very involved in the ministry of Religious Education, which continued to be central to her ministry for most of her life. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY in 1971 and a Masters in Education, specializing in Religious Education from Boston College in 1975. In 1978, she took Clinical Pastoral Education at Andover Newton Theological School in Massachusetts. Apart from her formal studies, Peggy attended many workshops and conferences pertaining to her ministry of Religious Ed and pastoral ministry. She also had the desire to learn Spanish to serve the Hispanic Community in a fuller way. She attended our language program in Puerto Rico for a summer and while at St. Michael’s in Auburn, a University Professor tutored her in Spanish for a whole year. She also learned to play the guitar because she thought it would add a great deal to her ministry. In 1987 Peggy had a Sabbatical Experience “Ministry to Ministers’ in San Antonio, Texas. She found that experience invaluable.

Sr. Peggy’s ministries were mostly parish based with some Diocesan Ministries. From 1950-1956 she took Census and taught Religious Education in the Tidewater Deanery of the Richmond Virginia Diocese. From 1956-1957 she taught fourth grade in St. Patrick’s in Phenix City, AL and also taught Religious Education, CCD on weekends. Peggy was a fifth grade teacher at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte, NC from 1957-59. She then returned to the Richmond Diocese to train and organize teachers and other parish personnel for the Diocesan Religious Education Office. She returned to the Richmond Diocese once again to minister in the Diocesan Religious Education Office in Roanoke. In 1963, she was missioned to Our Lady of Victory Parish in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY for Religious Education and as a parish worker and later served in St. Anselm’s Parish, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in the same ministry. Peggy served in several parishes in New England as the Religious Education Coordinator, Blessed Sacrament Parish in Walpole, MA; in St. Patrick’s Parish in Lawrence, MA; in St. Theresa’s Parish in Billerica, MA; in St. Mary’s Winchester, MA and in St. Thomas Parish in Southington, CT. Some of these parishes were quite large and the task of a Religious Education Coordinator was extensive. In 1980 Peggy headed South to the Catholic Church of DeLisle, Mississippi and worked with our ST priests and brothers. All her subsequent ministries were in the South, including Pensacola, FL; Phenix City, AL, Auburn, AL, and finally Mobile, AL at St. Pius X Parish in 1998. When her formal ministry at St. Pius X ended, she volunteered in the parish and visited the sick and homebound, worked with the Legion of Mary and was very involved with the Cursillo Movement in the Archdiocese of Mobile. She also took on the task of giving Vocation Talks responding to requests and asking to come to speak to students and youth groups and schools. For a couple of years from 1993 to 1995 Peggy served as a certified Lifeguard at our Trinita Retreat Center in CT. She continued to help at Trinita in the summer when her schedule allowed.

She worked with great numbers of children and parents. One of her favorite sayings of Father Judge was, ‘Save the Child and you save all.” Her passion was Religious Education. She wrote once, “I have been in love with our work in the ‘preservation of the Faith’, our cherished objective which CCD helps us to accomplish.” At another time she wrote, “Religious Education is, in my mind, the work of the Church. It is the mandate given to us by Christ. This has been my life work and will continue to be. It is our obligation to continually update and improve ourselves in order to give our people the best we can in the joy of God’s continual revelation of himself to us.”

One of the parishioners from St. Theresa’s Parish in Billerica, wrote to Sr. Mary Gerald about Sr. Peggy this way. “I would like to take this opportunity to tell you what a beautiful and loving person Sr. James Ann is, She has done so much for so many and been so good for this parish. The CCD program that she directs is the envy of every parish within a fifty-mile radius. I have never known anyone to be so conscientious, to know what has to be done and do it with such grace, vigor and so much love. Thank you for giving us such a jewel… Your community can be justly proud of such an extraordinary person.”

Peggy also served our community in many ways, she was on the Core group in New England, the Regional Coordinator in the South for several years, Treasurer for the Southern Region, a local custodian. Peggy also was involved in many Community committees such as the Journey of Faith and others.

In 2014, Peggy fell while out walking. She injured her shoulder and needed surgery. In November 2014, Peggy felt it was time to go to Wesley. In January 2015, Peggy was missioned to Mother Boniface Missionary Cenacle at Wesley where her hope was to do missionary work there and she did.

This year she would be celebrating seventy-five years as a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity. There will be great rejoicing with the Cenacle Saints in heaven for this Jubilee.

It would be impossible to know the countless lives she touched over the years in her many ministries. We are grateful for her life and vocation with us. She has no doubt lived out Fr. Judge’s hope for us, “What more beautiful legacy can you leave than that of an example and life fragrant and rich in the Cenacle traditions. This means that even after your death you will be continuing your apostleship through others whom your virtue has attracted to the service of God.” Thank you Sr. Peggy.