Mary Alice McCabe

Sister Mary Alice McCabe, SNDdeN worked with rural communities as a Christian community organizer in Brazil and Nicaragua from 1970 until 2017. As a missionary in the coastal region of Maceio in northeastern Brazil, she helped poor communities fight for their basic rights to land, education and healthcare.

During recent years, she, along with 32 other Sisters of Notre Dame, served at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, and in the Matamoros, Mexico Immigrant Camp, where they welcomed refugee families seeking asylum in the United States.
Sister Mary Alice is co-coordinator of the Laudato Si Action Platform Team for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur East-West Province, which aims to respond collectively to Pope Francis’s urgent call — “Laudato Si, Care for our Common Home.”
She serves on the board of directors of the Cuvilly Arts and Earth Center and Cuvilly’s Ecojustice Network.

Sister Mary Alice McCabe, SNDdeN speaks to Emmanuel College’s Class of 2018 after receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Photo: Samara Vise.

In 2018, Sister Mary Alice received an honorary doctoral degree from her alma mater, Emmanuel College in Boston, for her “unwavering will to uplift those living on the margins of our global society.”

See more about Sister Mary Alice:

• Profile for her work at the US-Mexico border in Matamoros, MX
• Some of her accounts of what she has seen and experienced at the border, along with accounts by other Sisters.
• East-West Laudato Si’ Action Plan Team
• A Place for Prayer and Contemplation
• Cuvilly Arts and Earth Center of Ipswich
• Ecological Conversion and the Commitment to Laudato Si’
• Immigration Ministry – Advocating for Asylum Seekers
• Advocating for Migrants and Refugees
• Book Recommendations here and here  

Updated 2026