2026 Jubilarian Celebrating 25 Years
Her mother swam from China to Hong Kong and found a Bible and her Catholic faith that she passed down to her two daughters. Her courage and her trust in God planed the first seed of Christine’s vocation. Those seeds continued to grow when part of her family immigrated to New York settling in Chinatown. It was there on 14th Street in Lower Manhatthan, that she first met the MSBT Sisters.
She did not know then how deeply their presence would affect her life. The Sisters’ hospitality, warm, welcoming presence and spirit, joyful simplicity of lifestyle they had as a group of Sisters living in community and as individual human beings, that touched her heart. They were involved in a diversity of ministries including Social Services, Campus Ministry, Parish Ministry and Nazareth Homes, established by Sr. Marion Agnes Daniel, MSBT, that turned abandoned building on the Lower East Side into affordable housing for the poor.
A turning point came when she volunteered at the MSBT mission at Trinita, in New Hartford, Connecticut. For a city person, the quietness of the countryside was a bit frightening, at first- but in the quietness, she came to experience God’s presence in nature and in the people she served and served alongside. She was blessed to minister side by side with the MSBT Sisters, ST Priests and Brothers, and members of the MCA and BTMI, along with so many volunteers from across the country who returned year after year, dedicating their lives to the program during the Summer months. It was here that she experienced the Missionary Cenacle Family spirit. Those seven long weeks with inner-city families showed her what it meant to strengthen the faith of the family as a unit, so that when they return to the community they could continue to experience God as a family in their daily lives.
MSBT Rule of Life, Article #3, “We follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, were sent forth from the Cenacle to spread everywhere the knowledge and love of Jesus.” Over these 25 years, the community has missioned her to many places including Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, Jamaica, and currently Philadelphia. Sr. Christine has served in Catholic Social Services; in prison ministry with women; as a Chaplain in nursing homes, hospitals and hospice; in Senior Centers; Parish Ministry, Vocation Ministry and Justice Promotion. In each mission, there are always wisdom figures who demonstrate God’s love, God’s tenderness, God’s mercy and God’s presence in the providence of daily life.
Sr. Christine continues to renew her “Yes” to God through the MSBT community. May the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Fortitude, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety and Awe continue to shape her life.