Sister Mary Loyola Engel is 102 years old and has been a nun for 80 years. She remembers when healthy numbers of young women entered her congregation, which founded the Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre.

But no one has entered the Congregation of the Infant Jesus in 40 years. The youngest member today is 61.

Like most groups of religious women in the United States, the Infant Jesus sisters face an uncertain future - and are adapting as best they can as their numbers dwindle and their members age.

"It's somewhat in God's hands" whether the order will survive into the future or what form it will take, said Sister Dolores Wisniewski, president of the congregation, which is based in Rockville Centre.

As a new exhibit opens at Ellis Island examining the contributions of Catholic sisters throughout American history, a spotlight shines on the congregations of aging nuns. Each of these communities on Long Island has seen their numbers shrink dramatically, yet each remains hopeful about their future. There are three based here with about 1,200 members. A few hundred more sisters work here, but their congregations are based elsewhere.

Last month, the Diocese of Rockville Centre honored religious sisters, brothers and priests who have served the region and were celebrating milestone anniversaries in religious life.

Engels was among the oldest at 80 years of service, but anniversaries of 50, 60, and even 75 years were common - especially among the sisters, who made up the majority of honorees. Church officials estimate the 114 honorees have given a combined 6,000 years worth of service to the church on Long Island.

While that was cause for celebration, it also underscored a stark reality: nuns on Long Island are aging, yet not often being replaced by new recruits. Nationally, the number of religious sisters has dropped from a high of 179,954 in 1965 to 57,544 today, according to Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

On Long Island, the Infant Jesus congregation has dropped from a high of about 280 in the early 1960s to 50 today, Wisniewski said. The largest Long Island order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, has gone from about 2,000 in the 1950s to 631 today, said Sister Jean Amore, president of the congregation.

As the numbers decline, the Va-tican is in the midst of an unusual two-year inquiry into religious sisters in the United States to examine their prayer life, the sharp drop-off in vocations, and the sisters' "fidelity to the Church's teaching."

With their members aging, the religious orders have reacted differently to the new reality. The Infant Jesus sisters say they are doing less outreach, becoming more contemplative and having people come to them more - their center in Rockville Centre is often a beehive of activity with events such as spirituality workshops.

The Sisters of St. Joseph are forging ahead with all the activities they can, from schools to prison ministry to assisting immigrants, and not letting speculation about the future curb their enthusiasm.

"We can't say where we are going to be in 30 years," Amore said. "You don't give up. You don't stop."

One possible option for helping to keep the congregations going is the growth of "lay associates" - lay people who collaborate with the sisters. Many congregations now have their own lay associations.

But many of the sisters also do not believe vowed religious life will end any time soon. New members are entering some congregations - the Sisters of St. Joseph currently have three in formation, with the most recent arriving Labor Day weekend.

"I feel religious life is a gift to the church, and I don't think God takes the gift away," said Sister Mary Hughes, head of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville, the second largest congregation on Long Island with more than 500 members. "I often have to remember that we began here with four sisters."

 

MARY LORRAINE STRUTHERS

 

AFTER Struthers decided to become a religious sister, she chose the Congregation of the Infant Jesus in Rockville Centre, partly because she wanted to remain near her close-knit family in Brooklyn.

So one day when her superiors asked if she would serve in a mission in the Bahamas, she wasn't too keen on the idea.

But in the end she accepted the assignment - and it turned out to be a wonderful experience during nine years overseas.

"It was the richest years I ever had," said Struthers, who is marking 60 years as a religious sister. "The people were very faith-filled, very simple and very poor."

She worked as a home nurse and helped run a baby clinic.

She holds a B.S. degree from the SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in nursing and an M.A. in theology from Immaculate Conception Seminary in Lloyd Harbor.

"It's been a wonderful life," Struthers said. "I've done things I never would have done if I didn't enter the convent."

 

SISTER MARY ANGELA COUGHLIN

 

SISTER Coughlin barely blinks at the memories of teaching 75 first-graders at once. For her, it was all part of the job.

The children at the schools, mainly in Brooklyn, were "wonderful," she said.

Coughlin, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood who is marking 70 years as a religious sister, spent so many years teaching she is not sure of the exact count, but says it was at least 50.

She joined the congregation in February 1941 when she was 17. She had attended a high school in Brooklyn run by the Sisters of St. Joseph and designed for girls who were seriously considering joining the congregation. She couldn't wait to enter.

"It was a great joy for me and my parents," she recalled. "They were very happy."

She later assisted the elderly homebound through St. Joseph's parish in Hewlett, taught religious education, and trained Eucharistic ministers.

Her work as a sister has given her "many blessings," she said. "The years God has given us are such a gift to us."

 

SISTER MARY LOYOLA ENGEL

 

SHE entered the Congregation of the Infant Jesus in Rockville Centre in 1930 when Herbert Hoover was president. She spent years providing home nursing to the poor in Brooklyn during the Great Depression and World War II, and then went on to working with new sisters entering the order.

At 102, Sister Engel is probably the oldest nun on Long Island and among the oldest in the country. This year she celebrated 80 years as a religious sister.

"I still think life is a gift," she said last week. "Every day is a surprise. Every day is new."

Engel said she became a sister after working as a volunteer teaching English to impoverished Italian immigrants in the 1920s and deciding she wanted to keep helping poor people. Eventually, she went on to serve as head of her congregation for nearly a decade.

She says she is concerned about "the possibility of a global community. We share one planet. You can't go anywhere else."

 

SISTER MARY RAYMONDA DILLON

 

SISTER Dillon was losing her hearing and going through a trying time. Her mother superior took her aside one day and said she wanted to send her to Fordham University to get a degree as a social worker.

Dillon resisted, telling her three times over the course of a week at the headquarters of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood that surely there must be someone in the congregation better qualified - and with better hearing - to take on such a career.

Dillon got her degree, and - after successful ear surgery - went on to a long career as a social worker. For 23 years she worked out of St. John's Medical Center.

She later went to work in the marriage tribunal for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. She was also elected to the leadership council of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

As she marks 75 years as a religious sister, Dillon is grateful for the experiences. "I've had a wonderful and blessed life," she said. "I am so grateful to God and the congregation."

FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.  Credit: Newsday/File Footage; Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Day, Bebeto Matthews; Getty Images

'A different situation at every airport' FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.  Credit: Newsday/File Footage; Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Day, Bebeto Matthews; Getty Images

'A different situation at every airport' FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

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