Building a society
of justice and love
Learn more about sisters’ ministries around the globe
Sisters of the Holy Cross focus on ministries that help build communities of justice and love, eradicate material poverty and end gender discrimination against women. The needs of people from many countries and cultures shape our missionary zeal. Our ministries respond to health and education needs; unjust social, political and economic systems; and issues such as nonviolence, human trafficking and the environment.
Sisters of the Holy Cross live and work around the world as educators, nurses, administrators, counselors, social workers, parish and campus ministers, writers, attorneys, and advocates for social justice and systemic reform.
We currently serve in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru, Uganda and the United States.
Some ministries are supported by the Ministry With the Poor fund. This fund provides annual grants for individual sisters to use in projects they are involved in personally that directly assist the materially poor, the powerless and those living on the fringes of society.
Select one of the countries below to learn more about the ministries sponsored by Sisters of the Holy Cross or receive Ministry With the Poor funds. Support our ministries by donating now.
Bangladesh
Bhadun, Bangladesh
Moreau Holy Cross School is a primary school for girls and boys that opened in January 2015.
Bhadun (Arunalaya) Sewing Center offers programs in sewing and machine embroidery to women with the goal of helping them earn income.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Holy Cross College is among the most highly rated schools in Bangladesh. It features a two-year program for women in humanities, science and business education.
Holy Cross Girls’ High School is a primary/secondary school for girls with an enrollment of approximately 1,800 students.
Holy Cross Students’ Hostel provides common living for around 40 young women attending Holy Cross College in Dhaka.
Kulaura, Bangladesh
Holy Cross Health Education Center provides basic health education and medication to area residents.
Kulaura (Prottasha) Sewing Center offers programs in sewing to women with the goal of helping create items that can be sold in commercial markets to provide a source of income.
Holy Cross School opened in January 2018 currently offers nursery and kindergarten classes. Additional primary school grades will be added on a yearly basis.
Ministry With the Poor grants in Bangladesh
Bhadun
- At Moreau Holy Cross School, grants support the ministry work of Sister Jamuna Magdeline Gomes, CSC, providing salaries for teachers and other critical staff, seminars for staff and parents, and teaching materials such as science lab instruments.
Dhaka
- Grant funding requested by Sister Molli Gertrude Costa, CSC, helps sustain the Archbishop Theotonius Amar Ganguly Teachers’ Training College. Funds provide teaching aids, workshop materials, library books and activity supplies to support local teachers-in-training.
- Sister Rani Catherine Gomes, CSC, assists the Afternoon Literacy Program at Holy Cross Girls High School, which received grant funding to provide for teachers’ salaries, student exercise books, and provide for a study tour fund for children unable to afford learning-based field trips.
Kulaura
- Grant funding at the Prottasha Sewing Center – requested by Sister Promila Gomes, CSC – provides sewing materials; staff stipends; and tuition, salaries, seminar funds and food for young women participating in training programs that financially and emotionally empower them to escape patterns of domestic abuse and material poverty.
- At Holy Cross School, Sister Shiuli Gomes, CSC works to provide scholastic resources for area tea garden workers’ children living in poverty. Recent grant funding enables the school to afford books, water filtration, office supplies, games, a projector, computers and a teacher’s salary.
- As requested by Sister Thecla Dinila Nokrek, CSC, grant funding to the Holy Cross Health Education Center supports salaries, medicinal supplies, health education classes, food and winter clothing for tea garden workers living in poverty.
Moulovi Bazar
- Medicine for children of tea garden workers living in poverty, as well as a salary subsidy for the work of Sister Salome Nanwar, CSC – who requested grant funds – was provided to the Sreemogal Saint Teresa Hostel of Saint Joseph Catholic Church. The hostel provides shelter for the tea garden workers and their families, the majority of whom are affected by poverty and have limited access to health care.
Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil
Colégio Santa Maria is a coeducational school with an enrollment of 2,900 students in preschool, primary and secondary classes.
Residencial Santa Cruz is a senior living facility that offers residence and healthcare services for the elderly.
Saint Martha’s Social Service Center provides programs for women to help them learn skills to support their families.
Ghana
Kasoa, Ghana
Our Lady of Holy Cross School offers co-education to more than 900 students from nursery through junior high.
Ministry With the Poor grants in Ghana support:
Kasoa
- Grant funds requested by Sister Comfort Arthur, CSC, help provide an income source to those living in poverty by purchasing their used plastic materials, and afforded the purchase of protective equipment for Plastic Waste Management Project workers. The project is integral to ensuring the area’s environmental sustainability and offering work opportunities for the needy.
- At Our Lady of Holy Cross School, grant funding requested by Sister Evelyn Ntiamoah, CSC, afforded the procurement of materials to be used as part of social work and counseling programs for children and parents.
Takoradi
- With grant funding requested by Sister Evelyn Ntiamoah, CSC, St. Kizito’s Pastoral Center has provided a stipend for sisters and facilitators who conduct pastoral skills training, counseling and disease prevention workshops locally. Grant monies also afforded the purchase of books and materials related to these educational programs.
India
Barakathal, West Tripura, India
Our Lady of Holy Cross School and hostel offers coeducation to approximately 250 students, from nursery school through eight grade, as well as housing students in the hostel as needed.
Ministry With the Poor grants in India support:
Barakathal
- At Our Lady of Holy Cross School, grant funds have afforded the purchase of water filters and waste disposal resources that otherwise would not be available to young schoolchildren in desperate need of the most basic resource: sanitary, clean water. Sister Bijoycy Thongnibah, CSC, leads this effort to supply fresh water and sanitary conditions to these children.
- Exercise games, water filtration, waste disposal, computers, projectors and school fees to enrich the educational experience for tribal schoolchildren residing at Our Lady of Holy Cross Hostel were provided with grant funds requested by Sister Mitali Mree, CSC.
Laitlawsnai
- Grant funds requested by Sister Shibanlin Nogsiej, CSC, for St. John School help supply educational charts, computers, blackboards, furniture, water filtration, teacher workshop fees, and support fees for students unable to afford the cost of education.
Meghalaya
- Young women discerning a call to religious life have access to furniture, kitchen items, television and travel and educational support at Holy Cross Study House, thanks to grant funding requested by Sister Rose Mary Marngar, CSC.
- The work of Sister Linda War, CSC, at Jatah Village Hostel has been supplemented by requested grant funding to provide clothing, water filters, waste disposal, television, and hostel and school fees for young women living in villages far from area schools.
Mexico
Ministry With the Poor grants in Mexico support:
Guadalupe, Nuevo León
- At the request of Sisters Patricia Anne Clossey, CSC, and Patricia Rodríguez Leal, CSC, grant funds provide after-school and weekend conflict management skills classes for children and parents as part of the Children for Peace Program. Proceeds from the grant also assist these families in purchasing school supplies and groceries.
Peru
Lima, Peru
The Center for Women provides leadership training and education on justice, political, social and religious issues.
A prison ministry program provides basic healthcare for incarcerated women and their children.
Ministry With the Poor grants in Peru support:
Lima
- At Chorrillos Annex Prison for Women, the work of Sister Lilma Calsin Collazos, CSC, is supported by grant funding that allows for the implementation of basic health care for female prisoners and their children, including the purchase of medical equipment and transportation.
- Sister Patricia A. Dieringer, CSC, works with a program called Accompanying the Trans in the San Juan de Lurigancho Community. This group has received much-needed grant funds to host meetings and afford transportation and materials for its inter-congregational mission to secure rights for the area’s transgender women.
Uganda
Kirinda, Uganda
Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre provides outpatient, maternity and postnatal care as well as outreach services in the adjacent villages, including immunizations and AIDS counseling.
Moreau Nursery and Primary School offers coeducation to more than 300 students from nursery school through the seventh grade.
Ministry With the Poor grants in Uganda support:
Fort Portal
- English-language textbooks for students of St. John Mary Vianney’s Community Secondary School – as well as seminars and workshops for English teachers – have been provided thanks to grant funding requested by Sister Martha Nambi, CSC.
- Grant support – requested by Sister Semerita Mbambu, CSC – offers skills training for youth and women survivors of recent violence in Kabarole and Kases districts, through work-based learning programs at Rwenzori Forum for Peace and Justice.
Kirinda
- The Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre received grant funds requested by Sister Angelica Birungi, CSC, to supply furnishings for maternity wards, including curtains and delivery sets that improve the quality of care for expectant mothers in the area. The center is also able to afford a stipend for a health educator and transportation fees for referred patients.
- An educational field trip for 73 students at Moreau Nursery and Primary School was made possible because of a grant requested by Sister Daisy Kabuleeta, CSC. The students would not have been able to afford the cost of field trips if not for this funding.
- For students with financial need attending Moreau Nursery and Primary School, Sister Edith Tumuhimbise, CSC, requested grant funding to provide scholarships to subsidize attendance fees.
- Thanks to a request made by Sister Grace Kitinisa, CSC, Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre received grant monies to provide materials for group sessions focused on imparting self-care and hygiene skills to young people in need.
- Immunization outreach staff and volunteers of the Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre received grant funding – at the request of Sister Jacinta Mueni Munyao, CSC – that subsidizes stipends, food and the cost of transportation for their work to educate remote village residents about the risks associated with HIV, AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.
- New batteries and a solar electricity inverter to provide sustainable energy to Moreau Nursery and Primary School has been provided as part of grant funding requested by Sister Janet Nantumbwe, CSC. The school can now experience a continuous power supply – something not previously possible due to the area’s unreliable main power grids.
- The work of Sister Lillian Nyakaisiki, CSC, supports the Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre. Thanks to her request for grant funding, the center can now afford to transport terminally ill patients to hospitals and perform a selection of community outreach programs. Grants also support educational materials and nutrition for the area’s women and children living with HIV or AIDS.
- With grant funding requested by Sister Rose Kyomukama, the Moreau Nursery and Primary School can afford new computers, mouse pads and computer speakers for students, as well as other enrollment- and technology-related fees.
United States
Los Angeles, California
West Adams District Nonviolent Communication Project is a program on nonviolent communication for parents and students in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.
Notre Dame, Indiana
Saint Mary’s College is a Catholic women’s college in the liberal arts tradition with an enrollment of more than 1,600 students
Kensington, Maryland
Academy of the Holy Cross is a college preparatory secondary school for girls with more than 500 students
Raleigh, North Carolina
A Place for Women to Gather provides opportunities for persons of diverse faith, race and ethnic background to explore areas of human development and spirituality.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Holy Cross Ministries of Utah addresses the needs of the underserved including parish health screenings, legal assistance for immigrants, a kindergarten, a preschool, after-school and summer learning programs
Ministry With the Poor grants in the USA support:
California
- Thanks to grant funding requested by Sister Mary Alice Bowler, CSC, the West Adams District Nonviolent Communication Project – a ministry of the Sisters of the Holy Cross – is able to provide instructional materials, office supplies, ongoing training sessions, food and transportation as part of a pilot project promoting nonviolent responses to conflict.
Florida
- In West Palm Beach, grant funds have allowed for the partial support of salaries for two job development coordinators and one education coordinator at Women’s Circle, Inc., thanks to a request from Sister Joan Carusillo, CSC. The center works to empower disadvantaged women to become self-sufficient.
- Sister Patricia McCabe, CSC, requested grant funding that provides tuition assistance for families who, otherwise, would not be able to attend Holy Cross Catholic Preschool and Center in West Palm Beach.
Indiana
- Grant funding requested by Sister Eileen Flavin, CSC, will supply food for the Mission Service Fund Backpack Program at St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital Foundation in Anderson, Indiana. This program helps address the issue of food insecurity for low-income students who currently receive free or reduced lunch.
- Holy Cross Sisters Frances B. O’Connor, Grace Watson, Carmel Marie (Sallows) and Suzanne Patterson have received grant assistance to fund the Mahoney Free Dental Days program in South Bend, Indiana. This program offers free emergency dental care for those who are undocumented or uninsured.
- The Near Northwest Neighborhood received grant funds to supplement the cost of renovation and repair training for local minority contractors addressing lead contamination in South Bend, thanks to a request for assistance made by Sister Mary Turgi, CSC.
- Grant funding to meet immediate needs – such as food for daily meals – and to develop programs for women and children who live in economic poverty has been provided to St. Margaret’s House in South Bend with the assistance of Sister M. Rose Anne (Schultz), CSC.
- Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner, CSC, requested funding to offset the cost of travel for a team from Trinity Health to conduct a site visit to Kyembogo Holy Cross Health Centre in Kirinda, Uganda, to assess the feasibility of providing health services in the area.
- With the assistance of Sister Susan Kintzele, Dismas House of South Bend, IN received grant monies to supplement salaries for case management staff and provide programming and basic needs for individuals recently released from prison who now live in transitional housing.
- Sister Suzanne Patterson, CSC, has requested grant funding to support the Broadway Christian Parish United Methodist Church of South Bend. These monies will enable the parish to provide a stipend for its hospitality director; financial support for its food pantry, soup kitchen and breakfast ministries; and food, clothing, laundry supplies and toiletries for marginalized and homeless individuals.
- Reins of Life of South Bend offers equine-assisted therapy programs for people with disabilities. With the help of grant funding requested by Sister Theresa Diane Streif, CSC, the organization will receive grant funding to supplement the cost of horse care, utilities, and program instructor salaries.
Maryland
- Sister Ann Shaw, CSC, requested and received grant monies for Shepherd’s Table in Silver Spring, Maryland, to provide food, kitchen supplies and staffing needs for the Food Service Program, serving three nutritious meals a day to the disadvantaged in the community.
- Friends in Solidarity with South Sudan, with offices in Silver Spring, is a global organization that empowers South Sudanese people to create a just and peaceful society through its support of sustainable education, health and pastoral programming. With the help of grant funding requested by Sister Geraldine Hoyler, CSC, the organization can afford financial support for one staff person to join an agricultural project in Riimenze that assists refugees.
- With grant funding requested by Sister Kathleen Weber, CSC, the Holy Cross Health Medical Adult Day Center in Silver Spring is able to continue the Robert Grossman Scholarship Fund, which supports caregivers and their clients with physical or mental disabilities who cannot afford daily attendance fees for adult day care or respite care.
Utah
- Thanks to a grant request made by Sister Catherine Kamphaus, CSC, the Diocese of Salt Lake City is able to afford professional development and leadership training resources for current and potential administrators of local Catholic schools.
- Grant monies requested by Sister M. Genevra (Rolf), CSC, and awarded to Holy Cross Ministries in Salt Lake City support the Promotora Outreach Program by providing salary funds for a promotora who assists clients in applying for government services such as health insurance, community resources, classes on domestic abuse prevention, and other life skills training.
- Holy Cross Ministries’ Immigration Services program in Salt Lake City received grant funding thanks to a request from Sister Madeleine Marie (Clayton), CSC, to subsidize personnel and administrative costs for two legal staff working in a new, collaborative pilot program. The program will allow the area’s partnering nonprofits to streamline the consultation process for immigrants seeking assistance.
- At Holy Cross Ministries in Park City, Utah, grant funds requested by Sister Mary Ann Pajakowski, CSC, support a salary for School Readiness Program staff who provide local families with home visits and classroom-based education for infants and children up to age 3.
- In Draper, Utah, Sister Laura Guadalupe Tiburcio Santos, CSC, requested grant funds to support Comunidades Unidas workshops that help immigrants understand their legal and civil rights, as well as services available to them. The grant will afford speakers, supplies, and travel expenses for these workshops.
- Matching existing federal funding, a grant requested by Sister Verónica A. Fajardo, CSC, will cover the salary, transportation and program costs of continuing off-site services at Holy Cross Ministries Peace House in Salt Lake City. Peace House helps victims of violence apply for United States residency and become independent community members.