Margaret "Shawn" “Agnes Shawn” Scanlan
Celebrating 70 years in Notre Dame de Namur in 2025, Sister Margaret Shawn Scanlan, SNDdeN reflects on her life as framed by Pope Francis’ Three Aims for Consecrated Persons.
First Aim: To Look at the Past with Gratitude
“My parents (John Jeremiah and Agnes Mary) and my five siblings (Patsy, John, Sheila, Jim and Tom) surrounded me with love and care,” she says. Her father organized poultry cooperatives throughout the United States as an economist with the Department of Agriculture, and her mother taught in D.C. public schools and one Catholic school. Still, they managed to drive all six children to visit relatives in Iowa and Minnesota. Their dedication to family grounded the siblings in their rich cultural heritage from the Irish counties of Kerry, Limerick and Cork.
Sister Shawn’s faith was additionally fostered by Holy Cross, Visitation and Notre Dame de Namur Sisters. Further education at Trinity College, Penn State University, the Washington Theological Union (WTU), West Virginia University and Catholic University gifted Shawn for ministries in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maryland, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. “Initially I taught third and sixth grades, then general science, algebra, biology, physics and religion, in various high schools,” she recalls. “Later I was assigned principal-ship at Notre Dame High School in Moylan, Pennsylvania.”
In later missions, Sister Shawn served as a West Virginia county extension agent for the federal Department of Agriculture, executive director of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, coordinator of the Tug Valley Recovery Center in West Virginia, regional coordinator of education and faith formation for West Virginia’s seven counties in the eastern panhandle, SNDdeN administrator during province transition times and later team leadership for the Chesapeake Province. She also served as summer camp counselor, and as staff at a soup kitchen, women’s center, home for the mentally challenged, E.V. O’Hare Rural Ministry Institute and WTU’s curriculum and development office. She held a chaplaincy in four hospitals and taught parishes’ RCIA, Scripture and social justice. “I was always graced by the contacts, support and faith-filled lives of the Sisters,” she says.
Second Aim: To Live the Present with Fervor
“This is a daily challenge to deepen my faith by being attentive to the Holy Spirit in our times of increasing change,” says Sister Shawn.
Third Aim: To Embrace the Future with Hope
Sister Shawn is committed to a hope-filled approach to life, “Despite the deaths of my five siblings, the situation of women in the world and in the Church today, world-wide poverty and violence, and the challenges facing religious women in this country.”
In all things, her profound faith continues to grow: “I pray that my trust in God’s Goodness may increase and sustain me in the times to come and may be a gift for me and others in a variety of ways.”
And finally, a favorite quote from St. Francis: “Do not worry about what might happen tomorrow, the same loving Father who takes care of you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.”
Updated in 2025