2026 Jubilarian Celebrating 70 Years
Sr. Gail grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts. During her senior year in high school at Mt. St. Mary’s Academy, two Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity visited the school and showed the MSBT vocational film, What Richer Life. She was captivated by the missionary spirit and the work among the Choctaw Indians in Mississippi, the Chinese mission in Philadelphia, the outreach in Puerto Rico and Cuba, and among the poor in so many places throughout the United States. There was something about the missionary heart and spirit that stirred in her and moved her to write for information about the community. Although she was planning to go to college, she needed to know more about the call of a missionary. The prayer that sustained and guided her at this time was, “Oh God, enlighten me to know your will for me and strengthen me to do it. Prepare my heart to meet your love and cling forever to it.”
Being led by the Spirit from light to light, grace to grace, and strength to strength, she felt moved and called to be a missionary, a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity.
Sr. Gail’s mission life began in Massachusetts ministering in Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry. Over the next twenty years her missionary journey took her to Birmingham, AL; Harrisburg, PA; Charlotte, NC and Pensacola, FL ministering through Catholic Social Services as a counselor, administrator, group worker and service with the poor, living on the margins. Then she was led by the Spirit to serve in Campus Ministry in Massachusetts, Young Adult Ministry in New Jersey, and Pastoral Ministry in Jamaica, West Indies and in Ohio. Spiritual Direction and Retreat work at Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat followed, in Holy Trinity, Alabama.
As a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity, what most stands out for Sr. Gail is how What Richer Life has unfolded before her eyes. From early on, she had the desire to live a life of love in the providence of her everyday life; to have the heart, soul and spirit of a missionary. Over the years, she had a growing awareness of God sending her the clear message. “Where I send you is where I want you to be! Look around and notice who are the wounded, the broken-hearted, the lonely… and reach out.” Our Founder, Father Judge’s maxims, “Save the child and you save all” and “Zeal is the white heat of charity” have always spoken to Sr. Gail. The Cenacle Spirit is a living, burning, operating love of God and neighbor. This Cenacle Spirit is nurtured and steeped in prayer. Sr. Gail treasurers that this Cenacle Spirit is shared with the Missionary Cenacle Family, and recognizes that it gives us both roots and wings.
“The Missionary Cenacle makes you a light in dark places. Makes you the strength of the weak; a tree under which the poor and the oppressed and the hearts that are tormented may receive refreshment,” MSBT Founder, Fr. Thomas A. Judge, CM.
The ongoing invitation is to live gratefully. Sr. Gail is most grateful for the gift of Living Faith, the desire to grow in radical trust and to live a life of love in the providence of every day life… to see the ordinary through God’s eyes. Sr. Gail remains deeply grateful for being called to be a missionary, a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity and celebrates what a grace it is to live the shared charism with the Missionary Cenacle Family. For, in the end, it is only love that matters!