Sister Mary Hurley (Sister Ellen Francis) began her journey as a Humility of Mary Sister in 1945, after graduating from Lourdes Academy in Cleveland and attending St. Ignatius Parish. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Master of Science from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, before teaching at Central Catholic High School in Canton, Lourdes Academy in Cleveland, and Magnificat High School in Rocky River. After the closing of Lourdes Academy in 1971, she became an outreach worker with youth and senior residents of the Near West Side of Cleveland. Education for justice and peace leading to advocacy and action was the primary focus of her ministry in various locations: coordinator of The Cleveland Sisters Coalition for Justice, coordinator of the Rio Grande Valley Border Witness Program in Texas, coordinator of Camino a la Paz in San Antonio in Texas and coordinator of the Rapid Response Network of the Cleveland InterReligious Task Force on Central America, which advocates for victims of human rights violations. As staff assistant at Common Ground, the Cindy Nord Center for Renewal in Oberlin, she was able to continue educating in sharing her passion for the Great Story of Earth from which all life evolves and continues to be nourished.
To congratulate Sister Mary, contact the Humility of Mary community.
