Rita “Elizabeth Miriam” Heywood
Sister Rita in her 1960s habit
Sister Rita Heywood, SNDdeN was born in Boston as the youngest of six children: five girls and one boy. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in August 1958 and made her Perpetual Vows at Ipswich in 1966.
At a Stop Human Trafficking demonstration in 2023
Sister Rita earned her BA in English from Emmanuel College, followed by postgraduate degrees in Education/Disabilities from Boston College. During this time, Sister Rita taught English and religion at several Massachusetts diocesan junior high and high schools, including one year at Star of the Sea High School in Honolulu. Sister Rita also taught postgraduate courses in education at Northeastern University and Salem State College while providing individualized academic services to college students at Boston University.
Over the following 20-plus years, Sister Rita coordinated disability services at Massachusetts Bay Community College and was appointed by the U.S. Leadership Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as coordinator of the U.S. Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for eight years.
Currently, Sister Rita is a justice promoter in active retirement, as she continues her faithful public witness in sharing the Goodness of God and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit at Harbor Columbia Point Community in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
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Updated in 2026.