Sister Agnes Rose was the eighth of nine children (five girls and four boys), born in Philadelphia to James P. McNally and Anna R. O'Hara, both from Pennsylvania. She remains in contact with many nieces and nephews from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Agnes was baptized and attended Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, elementary school in Philadelphia, and the Academy of Notre Dame, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia (transferred to the Academy of Notre Dame, Villanova, Pa.) for high school. She earned a Bachelor's Degree Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and a Master's Degree in Special Education at Boston University.
Having taught several years in parish elementary schools, Agnes became a special education teacher in DC and then a professor at the State University of New York in Genesee.
She served on the Maryland Province Team and the Maryland Province Sharings Group Team before becoming for 10 years the Director of the Tribunal in Richmond, Virginia, where, in her own words, her new role was to "create an atmosphere of welcome.”
Agnes was a member of the Chesapeake Team for two terms (four-year teams) and also coordinated the Family Community/Resource Center at Tench Tilghman elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland, for ten years. During these ministries Agnes was always grateful to Sister Mary Joan Kentz, SNDdeN, as her teacher and mentor.
On the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee Agnes wrote that she "saw God's hands as calling her to become a SNDdeN and to inherit a share in Julie's dynamic belief that God is Good and she was gifted for the opportunities to serve in a wide variety of ministers and to realize that nothing was wasted for everything is grace."
Agnes is now retired at Worcester, Mass., engaging and appreciating the sisters and the activities there.
Sister Agnes Rose's Ministries
1949-55 St. Eleanor School, Collegeville, Pa. (Teacher, Grades 1 & 2)
1955-62 Academy of Notre Dame, Villanova, Pa. (Teacher, Grade 1)
1962-63 Trinity College, Washington, DC (Study/Community Service)
1963-70 Kennedy Institute, Washington, DC (Teacher, Special Education)
1974-79 State University of New York, Geneseo, NY (Assistant Professor)
1979-81 SNDdeN Maryland Province, Ilchester, Md. (Provincial Government Group)
1981-82 Maryland Province Sharings Group, Ilchester, Md. (Administrator)
1982-83 Diocese of Richmond, Richmond, Va. (Director of Tribunal)
1983-93 Diocese of Richmond Director, Norfolk, Va. (Director of Diocesan Tribunal Office )
1994-98 SNDdeN Chesapeake Province, Baltimore, Md. (Administrative Team Member)
1999 -2009 Julie Community Center, Baltimore, Md. (Coordinator, Family & Community/Resource Center, Tench Tilghman School)
2010-14 SNDdeN Chesapeake Province Baltimore, Md. (Administrative Team Member)