BELMONT — On May 25, Sisters of Mercy Mary Julia Godwin, Jeanne Margaret McNally and Mary Agnes Solari celebrated a major milestone in their vocation to Christ and His Church: their platinum jubilee. They marked 70 years of religious life, which spans more than a third of the history of their order founded in 1831 by Venerable Catherine McAuley.
Since entering the Sisters of Mercy in 1949, they have contributed in a myriad of ways to their community, making an impact on so many lives through their work – in orphanages, hospitals and schools, with marriage counseling, to people with special needs, in college and high school administration.
Each Sister has given her life to helping others to the best of her ability, through the grace of Jesus Christ. Their lives are a testimony to the power of Christ’s love demonstrated through His Church and through the particular charism of the Sisters of Mercy.
Sister Mary Julia Godwin
Aside from her recent Jubilee, Sister Mary Julia Godwin is proud of another facet of her life: her family was among the first Catholic families in eastern North Carolina. “In 1863, John Monck, my-great-grandfather from Newton Grove, became Catholic and I am descended from that family. He was received into the Catholic Church and all of his family did afterwards,” she describes.
Although John Monck didn’t know it, that decision would have a lasting impact on the life of his descendant. Sister Julia arrived in Belmont on July 15, 1949, after becoming better acquainted with the Sisters of Mercy through a chance encounter.
She recalls, “After high school, I was at Mercy Hospital for two years studying nursing. One day while at the hospital, I met a lovely Sister named Carmelita Barrett. She was my mentor, really. She was always teasing me, telling me, ‘You’d make a wonderful nun!’ I had thought about it, but not given it any serious consideration. One day she had left her habit off, and I tried it on. She came back and caught me with it on, which pleased her to no end.” It wasn’t long before the young nursing student professed her vows as a Sister of Mercy.
Her ministries have included education, Catholic orphanages in Raleigh, and specializing in working with those with special needs, such as the residents of Holy Angels, where she served for 16 years. She has taught locally at St. Gabriel and St. Patrick schools in Charlotte, St. Michael School in Gastonia, St. Leo School in Winston-Salem, Sacred Heart School in Salisbury, and St. Eugene School in Asheville. She also went a bit farther away, teaching at St. Agnes School in Greenport, Long Island, N.Y. But it was her service at Nazareth Orphanage in Raleigh that has meant the most to her.
“Because I was very young, my work at the orphanage really shaped me,” she says. “I fell in love with that kind of work. There was a lot of learning, but I loved it and it really shaped me for working at Holy Angels in Belmont.”
Now aged 91, Sister Mary Julia says the key to a long life, apart from “eating well and getting enough sleep,” is happiness.
“For one thing, I never worried about getting old. That never bothered me! I didn’t let little things bother me, either. The last 70 years have all been so happy, and I know that God has intervened to keep me busy and interested in what I was doing. I have put my life into my work and never thought about going off and doing something else. I was always committed.”
Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally
Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally is a native of New York and a canon lawyer who also holds a doctorate in psychology from The Catholic University. Her calling came when she read about the Sisters of Mercy and the rich missionary opportunities in North Carolina.
“What drew me to the Sisters of Mercy was the missions they were doing, because less than one-tenth of one percent of people were Catholic in North Carolina at that time,” she recalls. Nursing was also in Sister Jeanne-Margaret’s background, and she remained busy with nursing and administrative work. She served as director of the school of nursing at Mercy Hospital for 18 years and worked as a college administrator at UNC-Chapel Hill. She has also served as a tribunal judge for the Diocese of Charlotte and the Archdiocese of Miami, besides serving as president of the Sisters of Mercy and on the Board of Trustees for Belmont Abbey College. Additionally, she taught at Barry University in Miami and Sacred Heart College in Belmont.
Each role she has taken on throughout her 70 years of ministry has affected and shaped her in a different way, she says.
“Nursing was very significant, but probably the administration as well, because I just seemed to flow naturally into it. They all shape you in some manner, because it changes your thinking. Between nursing and psychology and law, I’m always getting a better understanding of people all the time. That’s my job! There wasn’t anything I would have changed, and not many people can say that. That was a constant blessing.”
What has been the secret to her happiness?
“Every experience can be a blessing if you allow it to be; if you’re open for it,” Sister Jeanne-Margaret says. “The blessing was that I began thinking more rationally – your whole cognitive development changes with your experiences, but you have to be open to it.” And above all, renewing her commitment to God on a daily basis has been a critical aspect of her 70 years of service as a Sister of Mercy.
“I made a commitment to renewing my vows every single day. Even in marriage, you have to constantly renew that commitment, because psychologically your whole personality changes as the years go by. Everything is always going to change, every day. You have to constantly renew that commitment within the circumference of who you are and what you are right in the moment.” she says.
Looking back over 70 years of vocational service can be both delightful and awe-inspiring, both for the Sisters themselves and for those who serve with them and encounter them in ministry. Sister Jeanne-Margaret adds that it can also be bittersweet.
“There were 12 of us and we were known as the ’49ers. However, when we celebrated recently, we were the only ones left still living.”
“The rest,” adds Sister Mary Julia, “now belong to the Lord.”
Sister Mary Agnes Solari
One of their fellow ’49ers was able to celebrate her 70th jubilee before quietly passing away June 11, surrounded by her fellow Sisters and family.
Sister Mary Agnes Solari’s name is a familiar one, as her cousins are Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari at Belmont Abbey Monastery and Father Jim Solari, chaplain of Maryfield in High Point.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Belmont Abbey and a master’s degree in administration and supervision from UNC-Chapel Hill. She had a long career in teaching and school administration. Her work included teaching at St. Patrick School in Charlotte, Charlotte Catholic High School, St. Mary School in Wilmington, St. Eugene School in Asheville, and Evelyn Mack Day School in Charlotte. She also served as principal of St. Patrick’s and St. Eugene’s. In addition, she served on the faculty and in Catholic campus ministry at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.
Although she has departed this life, her legacy will be remembered by the Sisters of Mercy and all those touched by her ministry over the years, especially reflecting on her motto in religious life: “What is This to Eternity?” She explained it as: “In bad times – with help, we can get through it – don’t give up. In good times – don’t get too caught up that you lose sight of what’s important.”
— Emily Williams, correspondent
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