Sharon McMillan

Sister Sharon McMillan, SNDdeN entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Saratoga, California, in 1975 and began teaching at Notre Dame High School in San Jose, California. During novitiate she had the opportunity to study the theology and history of liturgy, a subject that inspired and touched her heart. While teaching middle school at Mission Dolores School, a kind pastor invited her to work part-time in liturgy for the parish. This was the source of truly significant experiences in bilingual liturgy, learned from the loving parishioners who were from Mexico and Central America. 

Sister Sharon continued to serve in the area of liturgy in parishes in California and spent several summers studying liturgy at the University of Notre Dame. From 1990 to 1994 she had the heart- and mind-expanding experiences of living at the SNDdeN Generalate in Rome while studying liturgy at the Benedictine University there. Beginning in 1994, Sharon served as professor of liturgy at the Sulpician Seminary in Menlo Park, California. 

In 2009, Sister Sharon joined the novitiate community in Langata, Kenya, and (much to her surprise) she was invited to teach liturgy to Kenyan and Ugandan seminarians at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Upon returning to California, she has served in liturgical ministry at San Carlos Cathedral, Monterey, and occasional instructor in the graduate program in pastoral ministries for the Jesuit University in Santa Clara, California. 

Praise, thanksgiving and supplication to God has been her most rewarding ministry and one that has blessed many across the world, whether Sister Sharon was leading or teaching liturgy. 

Updated in 2025