Patricia O'Brien

Sister Patricia O’Brien, SNDdeN was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the first born of six children with four brothers and one sister. She lived for ten years in Lowell, then her family moved to western Massachusetts. She came “back east” to attend Wellesley College.

She was actively involved in campus ministry during her college years and had the opportunity to meet Sister Marie Augusta Neal,SNDdeN, who was teaching sociology at Emmanuel College. She introduced her to some other Sisters and, as she learned more about the SNDdeN mission and the sisters’ passion for education and commitment to the poor, she discerned that she wanted to enter the community, and did so in 1981.

When she first entered, she lived in South Boston, in the D Street housing project, with Sisters Sue Murphy and Margaret Lanen, SNDdeN.

“One of my favorite memories of those days is my first Easter living in community. Sister Kate Panetta, the director of religious education for the parish where we lived, approached me with a dilemma: It was a long-standing tradition that the Easter Bunny would distribute candy after the children’s Mass on Easter Sunday, but the priest who had played the Easter Bunny had moved on. Kate had a six-foot pink flannel Easter Bunny suit and wondered, since I was just about six feet tall, if I might be able to help out. And, of course, I did!”

“I have been privileged to work in education for my whole life, and much of that time has been spent in higher education.”

Her current position, for more than 18 years, is with an accrediting agency whose mission is to promote the quality of higher education — ensuring that all students, regardless of where they enroll, receive an education of the highest possible quality.

She also served on the board of trustees of Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., for many years and was chair of the board for nine of those years.

“One of our greatest joys as board members was the chance to meet Trinity students, including DACA students,” she recalls. “Their stories of resilience and courage were inspiring to all of us.”

Sister Patricia currently serves on the U.S. East-West Leadership Team.

“At this time of Jubilee [Sister Patricia’s 40th Jubilee in 2021], I am grateful for the gift of Sisterhood, the opportunity to serve God’s people as a member of the community, and the opportunity to serve the EW Unit and the congregation through membership on boards and committees. I am also grateful for the 25+ years I have lived in Everett, Massachusetts, a city that has, over the course of those years, become much more ethnically diverse.”

She wishes to share her favorite quote from St. Julie Billiart. In her 2012 talk “Leadership Lessons of Saint Julie” for school administrators, she used three “good words” from Saint Julie, and discussed the implications of those good words for leaders.

“One of those good words was Julie’s exhortation to her sisters to display a ‘manly courage’ — a concept that sounds a bit strange in the 21st century. Here is what I wrote in my talk:

“In urging her sisters to embrace a “manly courage,” Julie is not, I think, simply asking them to be brave or fearless. She is encouraging them to engage in unfamiliar behavior, to behave in ways atypical for young ladies. She is asking them to step out of their comfort zone, to leave behind the familiar and the known, to adopt attitudes and behaviors that will stretch them to grow. And to do this for the sake of a greater good, for the mission of the congregation.”

Says Sister Patricia, “I believe that, like St. Julie, effective leaders encourage those in their community to leave behind the comfortable and the familiar, to be confident and unafraid, to develop their talents and abilities for the sake of the greater good.”

Updated in 2026.