Maureen O'Brien
Jubilarian 70-Year
Sister Maureen O’Brien, SNDdeN says that no part of her childhood in Boston was unique. She was the oldest of Joseph and Catherine O’Brien’s five children and a member of a third-generation Irish/German family. Her basic education took place at three Notre Dame schools on Broadway in South Boston, within close proximity to one another. The last was Archbishop Cushing Central High School, an all-girls school with a student body of 1,000.
What does she remember about those days on Broadway? Her strongest memory is of a statue in a niche at the bottom of the front stairs at ACCH. An interesting point: ACCH had also been her parish elementary school. And so, for nine years, she was mesmerized by the expression on Blessed Marie Rose Julie Billiart’s face. Why? Because Julie was smiling! Every statue in the parish church across the street was super serious. All of their hands were clasped. Each pair of eyes raised to the ceiling. No smiles allowed!
Why was Julie smiling? In 1956, the smile and the slowly unfolding answer touched her life. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Waltham, Massachusetts, along with more than 70 other young women.
Another clue to Julie’s smile: “The Sisters of Notre Dame are an international congregation.” Her fifth-grade teacher, Sister Frances Helena, had been a missionary in Japan and had spent time in a Japanese concentration camp in Hiroshima during World War II.
Across the decades, Sister Maureen’s life in Notre Dame has been blessed with understanding the richness of what St. Julie Billiart meant when she wrote: “The whole earth is the Lord’s, and every place is equal in the eyes of a Sister of Notre Dame who follows in the footsteps of the Apostles according to the spirit of our Holy Institute.” The meaning of these words grew ever more profound as Sister Maureen’s own international ministry expanded.
PACE Team Sisters, sitting left to right, Sisters Jo Ann Flora, Evelyn McKenna and Marie Dominique Lukowo, SNDdeN; standing left to right, Sisters Margaret Lanen, Anaclette Swana and Maureen OBrien, SNDdeN
“These words entered my life and my heart when I first heard them,” she says. “They helped me to bond with Julie and my SND sisters, students and co-workers in the United States, Japan, Italy, Haiti, the Philippines and Congo. And they brought me back to Japan in October 2024 to celebrate 100 years of mission, goodness and hope.”
Today, she teaches ESOL to new immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic, in Hartford, Connecticut. She continues to go where she is needed in our broken world.
As she joyfully reflects on her years of ministry and her faithful response to God’s call, as an educator, missionary, formator and member of leadership teams, Sister Maureen remains open to the call behind the smile of Saint Julie Billiart, which is where she would start a conversation with another young woman.
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Updated in 2026