FUNERAL FOR SISTER MARY DANIEL, RSM

Pat Colavita, Gaetana Borgia Iseicz, Fr. John

In the first three days of this Easter season, I have been at two funerals: one in Indiana on Easter Monday for a teacher at Notre Dame University and one on Wednesday for a teacher I had in high school – Notre Dame High School, in Trenton NJ. That funeral was in Watchung, New Jersey and it was a real homecoming.

Sr. Daniel was a member of the Sisters of Mercy, and a musician. She ran the choirs, directed music for the school plays (and our school plays were full-fledged extravaganzas, with costumes from Brooke & Van Horne in New York, professional choreographers and pit musicians, and a cast of thousands. Well, hundred. In my three years (I entered as a sophomore) we did Merry Widow, Student Prince and The King and I (I was the king – get your mind around THAT!)

She was an extraordinary teacher, because she always supported, always encouraged, always challenged you to do more, and do it better. She had had Alzheimers the last several years, so the sorrow was tempered with celebration that she was now in a place with full possession of her faculties again. And it was a reunion.

I apologize for those not associated with Notre Dame High School – you might want to check and see if there is anything gripping on television. But memory lane, here we come.

I was at Port Authority bus terminal a little before 7, to catch the 7:15 AM bus to the mother house. These morning commuter buses are family affairs, with the driver knowing many of the passengers, and them knowing one another. I haven’t been on one of these buses in a long time, and the electronic sign at the front of the bus rolls off streets on the route before the bus gets there – very handy if – like me – you don’t know where you’re going. At one point there was a fire on the road ahead of us, complete with police road block, and the driver wasn’t sure how to go, so one of the passengers directed him – turn here, now go right, straight down this road – and back on the other side of the fire. Great fun.

I got off and walked a long block and then uphill to the infirmary. The nursing director directed me to the chapel (I was way early) and got me a cup of coffee. Bless her. I helped set up for Mass, and as people started coming in I met folks, some I knew, some I didn’t. Sr. Daniel’s long time friend, Sr. Judy Ward was there, as was her cousin, Sr. Lucille, a Carmelite nun from Wisconsin. (Everyone knows at least one Jesuit, and everyone asks if I know them. In this case, Fr. George Drance who is now helping out at St. Malachy’s – he was a novice in Wisconsin and she remembers him chopping wood.)

The nuns have a ritual for welcoming the body, which was very nice. Sr. Daniel had been in the Mercy’s for 70 years, and everyone knew her at one point or another in her life.

The principal celebrant (I was liturgical decoration) was Mnsgr Capik, who had been the bright young priest of our time, the dashing and exciting faculty member with whom a number of young ladies were chastely in love. He’s in his early 80’s now, but you’d never know it – strong voice, great personality and delivered a wonderful homily. I ran into several teachers from those days – Sr. Raymond, Sr. Sean, Sr. Jacinta, Sr. Victor, Sr Paschal – I’m not sure what was the more startling moment, that I was there as a priest or that I kissed Sr. Paschal. Gaetana Borgia and Pat Colavita from the class of ’63 sang a song that Sr. Daniel had written, and Ed Hofmann who had been in the King and I production was there – he is a Christian Brother and director of undergraduate admission at LaSalle University. (He3 didn't come back for lunch after the cemetery so there is no picture of him - but he's tall with a handsome short white beard.) The woman who was supposed to do a reflection couldn’t make it – she broke her foot – and so I was pressed into service. I talked about Sr. Daniel, and sang a song from our class (Almost Like Being in Love) – and at the cemetery, never being one to resist temptation, sang the first verse of Danny Boy – although, of course, as Danny Girl. There was a lovely lunch afterwards at the center and it was a lovely day, reminding me of all the good times at high school. OK, we all tend to gloss over and make more golden the days of our youth – especially when they are as far away as they are. But it was a good send off to a lovely lady and another important teacher, at least in my life. And there are even a couple of pictures.

Sr. Judy Ward. She recently broke her hip and is temporarily using a chair. She has a very artistic photo on her phone of the x-ray clearly showing the screw in place. 

For those of my era at Notre Dame High School, how many of these can you identify? 

The cover from the Order of Worship for the funeral Mass.

And I got a copy of the published obituary as well:

Sister Mary Daniel Schroeder, RSM

Sister Daniel, 86, died peacefully on March 29, 2013 at McAuley Hall Health Care Center, Watchung, NJ.

Sister was born in Easton PA and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1943. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgian Court College, Lakewood and a Master’s Degree in music education from Boston University. She continued her studies at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart; Pius X School of Liturgical Music, Purchase NY; and in Westminster Choir College, Princeton.

For many years, Sister Daniel shared the joy of music through the classes she taught at St James School, Woodbridge; Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung; and Phillipsburg Catholic High School, Phillipsburg.

She also served as pastoral music director in St Joan of Arc Parish in Marlton, St John Parish in Bushkill, PA and pastoral musician in the parishes of St Theresa in Succasunna; St Joseph in Lake Orion, MI and St Luke in Detroit.

Sister Daniel served the Lord through her ministry of music and in doing so; she made a lasting impression on many lives. She made a positive difference not only in the lives of her students, but on all who knew her.

After retiring, Sister Daniel volunteered in the music ministry at Mount Saint Mary and  helped initiate and worked untiringly with Sister Judy Ward for “Catherine’s Legacy” until she moved to McAuley Hall where she could still be heard playing the piano, something she never forgot.

She is survived by a loving cousin Sister Lucille LaMontagne, O.Carm. from Hudson, Wisconsin and many devoted Sisters of Mercy and dear friends.

Visitation will take place at McAuley Hall Health Care Center on

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 from 9:00 – 11:00 am followed by a Mass of   Christian Burial.

Burial in Holy Redeemer Cemetery, South Plainfield, NJ.

Memorial Contributions may be made to Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community,  1645 Highway 22, Watchung, NJ 07069.

Arrangements by: Higgins Home for Funerals, Watchung, NJ