Eileen Burns

Sister Eileen Burns, SNDdeN celebrates her Golden Jubilee with gratitude for a life rooted in faith, service and love for God’s people. 

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to John and Pauline Burns, Sister Eileen grew up in Methuen, MA, surrounded by nature and a growing family. The eldest of six children, she developed an early connection to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at St. Monica Grammar School. Even in first grade, she was drawn to the idea that faith and daily life belonged together. The Sisters’ teachings and example stayed with her through her years at St. Mary High School in Lawrence, a school which was staffed by Sisters and lay teachers. 

During high school, Sister Eileen witnessed both the joy and the challenges the Sisters experienced during the years of change following Vatican II. While she initially enrolled at Merrimack College, she felt God’s call deepening through prayer and reflection. She decided to leave after one year and began working in a nursing home and a factory to pay off her student loan. She continued to contemplate life’s meaning. This led her to enter the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1975.  

Sister Eileen began the initial formation program in Ipswich, MA, and then received a degree in biology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. At the time, she was living in community with Sisters in Brighton, commuting by city bus and continuing her formation. Her early ministries included teaching middle school science, math and religion at the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro and at St. Mary’s in Lawrence. In Lawrence, Sister Eileen also volunteered at the Bread and Roses soup kitchen and worked with children and women in a low-income housing project—deepening her call to serve those made poor. She co-founded Si, Se Puede in Lawrence. 

Sister Eileen later taught at St. Columbkille High School in Boston and earned a master’s degree in ministry with a focus on justice and peace from Seattle University. She served as a pastoral associate in parishes in Lowell and Lynn, overseeing adult faith formation, RCIA, marriage preparation, homebound ministry and outreach to immigrants. From 2002 to 2007, she was a member of the Ipswich Province leadership team. 

From 2008 to 2019, Sister Eileen served as executive director of the Notre Dame Education Center in Lawrence, which provides ESOL, high school equivalency, CNA training and citizenship preparation. Most recently, she served on the East-West Province leadership team from 2019 to 2024.  

A sabbatical year in 2024-25 has offered Sister Eileen the chance to dedicate herself fully to study, prayer, social connection and renewed appreciation for creation. She finds hope in God’s goodness, the resilience of people and the promise that “when the heart is right, our good God always shows the way”—a quote from St. Julie that continues to guide her. She encourages anyone discerning religious life to listen deeply for God’s presence and to ask how best to love and be loved in return. 

Updated in 2025 

Sister Eileen wrote an article about SNDdeN in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and how Sisters have been stewards of the property since its purchase in 1959. Click here to read it in the Global Sisters Report.