You show me the path for my life, in your presence the fullness of joy …” Psalm 16, verse 11
Sister Edna Maier was born on March 22, 1937. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on August 14, 1955. On January 25, 2023, Sister Edna Maier went home to her good God.
The seed of Sister Edna's desire for religious life was planted early on in her childhood. When she entered the convent immediately after high school, she thought it was a “fait accompli” that she would eventually teach French in high school—as her favorite SNDdeN teachers had done.
But, that never happened!
God’s initial plan for her life was mathematics—first in grade school in Staten Island; then, in high school in Norfolk, VA, and eventually at Norfolk State University, a Historically Black College. It was 1970, and Sister Edna looked forward to the challenge.
Some of the students from the interfaith group were fascinated at having a nun on the campus, and they invited her to be a guest speaker at their weekly meetings. Seven years later, she requested and received permission to be part of a Family Mission Preaching Team which was initiated by Clem Burns, OP. It was a turning point in the path for her life.
For 20 years, Sister Edna traveled throughout the United States with the preaching team, giving week-long parish retreats wherever they were invited.
Other opportunities for preaching the Gospel emerged as various SNDdeNs encouraged Sister Edna to write articles for various newspapers. These became a special joy to her, since she never thought a mathematician could—or should—write!
Sister Edna published articles in the Philadelphia Catholic Standard and Times, which were reprinted in the Catholic Digest. This became the prelude to six years of writing columns for two secular newspapers in Virginia.
In 1997, her preaching partner was given a new assignment, and Sister Edna looked for—and found—opportunities to minister as Pastoral Coordinator in four priest-less parishes in West Virginia and Virginia.
In 2005, Sista Edna felt the call to return to Baltimore—one of the more populated SNDdeN centers—so that she could be more in touch with the SNDdeN clan.
Even in her retirement, the path for her life beckoned her to new and blessed ways to share the Gospel with God’s people.
Sister Edna Maier went home to her good Go on January 25, 2023, at the age of 85 and after 67 years of consecrated life.
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