Press Release
Spirit of Service Award Goes to Saint Mary's College Senior and Holy Cross Sister
Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary’s College
Notre Dame, Ind.
(574) 284-4579
April 20, 2009 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—The Office for Civic and Social Engagement (OCSE) at Saint Mary's College is pleased to announce that Deanna Molosky ’09, of Marinette, WI will receive the Spirit of Service Award, the highest service-related award bestowed by the College. The award is given every other year to a student and a Holy Cross sister (the College was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross). Molosky, a social work major, will share the award with Sister Gabriella Doran, CSC. The Spirit of Service Award recognizes a student and a sister who have individually demonstrated a “servant’s heart” in the South Bend community through their words, relationships, and deeds. Winners of this award are chosen through a nomination process, with final approval coming from the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the College president.
Molosky discovered her calling soon after arriving at Saint Mary’s College when she took an Introduction to Social Work class. She found that social work “offers an enormous range of opportunities, and I knew that this was the best way for me to explore my world as well as my identity.” Social work has allowed her to meet people in need in a variety of settings. Molosky has taken part in trips to El Salvador and Mexico, working alongside those in greatest need.
Her Spanish language skills have also served her well in South Bend as a volunteer at La Casa de Amistad’s Youth and Community Center and at St. Adalbert’s Catholic School, where she provided basic computer skills training and homework help to Spanish-speaking clients and students. Molosky’s summer service placement with Hope Ministries in South Bend allowed her to assist a caseworker in creating timelines of residents’ lives and to create and implement a child safety apartment checklist program. She has reached out to the region in many other ways, including helping to plan a Community Forum on Child Welfare Public Policy on campus, walking in a CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) walk in South Bend, participating in the Latino Behavioral Health Summit held in Angola, and working with the office of Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Granger).
Molosky’s spirit of service on campus crossed generations, as she visited with bedridden sisters at the convent and supervised children at the Early Childhood Development Center. Other campus activities have included supporting Dance Marathon, an annual on-campus event that raises money for Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis; Hypatia Day, a day of math and science activities for area middle-school students; and the Social Work Club.
Molosky’s approach to service is simple. She says, “I see what others are doing and I think to myself, ‘what could I do?’ or ‘I can do that too.’” She feels that service work allows her to see Christ in the eyes if those she helps. She notes, “I feel called to serve others and I think that this is the way that I can experience God the most.”
Sister Doran was born and raised in South Bend. She was baptized in St. Joseph Catholic Church in 1922. Perhaps influenced by the sisters who worked at St. Joseph School, where she attended, she began her novitiate in 1940. She served as an educator in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan for 35 years. In 1972 she helped establish Harvest House, a ministry for older adults in the South Bend area. She worked for REAL Services as a caseworker for older adults. Between 1986-1999 she served as the director of pastoral care at Saint Joseph Care Center West, on South Bend’s west side.
While working at the St. Joseph Care Center, she saw the toll of violence in the area. In one case, the 16-year-old nephew of an employee at the center was killed while sitting in a car. Sister Doran remembers, “I began to feel helpless as to what could be done to stop this violence.” She met with other area pastors and they created the On-site Prayer Ministry. For 20 years a small group of faithful meet wherever a homicide has occurred and pray for the victim, the perpetrator, and the families involved. At about the same time as the creation of On-site Prayer Ministry, Sister Doran became concerned about the young people confined at the Juvenile Justice Center in South Bend and helped create a chaplain program there.
Since 1999 Sister Doran has worked as an outreach person for the vocations program, setting up programs in area schools where Sisters of the Holy Cross used to teach. This has allowed some of the older sisters an opportunity to meet and talk with young students who have never known a sister.
Through all of her work, Sister Doran has heard and responded to the needs of those around her—whether children in schools, the elderly in nursing homes, or youth (and their families) affected by violence. She serves with wisdom, insight and determination. She once wrote, “For each of us, there has been a plan - a call from God in our lives.”
Molosky and Sister Doran and the other award winners will be recognized at a dinner at the College on Wednesday, April 29.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. The College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the nation's top liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2009 annual survey. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
