Congregations
Our Sisters are working across the globe to continue the work of our founder Nano Nagle.
Aberdeen, South Dakota
The Presentation Sisters came to Dakota Territory in 1880, answering a call to teach children in the area. In 1886 three sisters responded to an invitation to open Sacred Heart School in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the congregation was soon staffing schools around the Diocese of Sioux Falls. In 1901 they began a healthcare ministry in response to the diphtheria epidemic. Presentation Sisters from the Aberdeen congregation continue in the name if Nano Nagle to serve those in need, especially through education, healthcare, welcoming the stranger, justice and advocacy.
Visit Website »Dubuque, Iowa
In 1874 Mother Vincent Hennessy left the Presentation convent in Mooncoin, Ireland, with three young women, to teach the immigrant children of Iowa, establishing the Dubuque Presentation community. Mother Vincent inspired others to live out the Presentation motto, Caritas (love for all). Despite challenging beginnings, the Dubuque Presentation community flourished. Today, Dubuque Presentation Sisters are involved in educational and pastoral ministries and service to others. Sisters minister in urban and rural areas in the United States and in O’Connor Province of Tarija, Bolivia.
Visit Website »New Windsor, New York
In September, 1874, 12 Presentation Sisters from Ireland, led by Mother Joseph Hickey, responded to an invitation to teach the children of poor Irish immigrants at Saint Michael’s parish in New York City. St. Michael’s soon opened an orphanage on Staten Island, also staffed by Presentation Sisters. In 1884, this became the home of the newly etablished Sisters of the Presentation of Staten Island. In 1886, Mother Magdalen Keating set out from Staten Island with a small group of Sisters to begin a new foundation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Sisters eventually opened schools and other ministries in other areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. In 1921, Presentation Sisters from St. Michael’s purchased property near the city of Newburgh, New York. Later this site, Mount Saint Joseph, became the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Presentation of Newburgh. In July, 1997 the Fitchburg and Newburgh Presentation congregations became one.
Visit Website »San Francisco, California
Archbishop Joseph S. Alemany requested that the Sisters come to San Francisco in 1854 to open schools for the ever-increasing numbers of children arriving with the settler families. By the time of the 1906 earthquake, they had flourishing schools in the downtown and North Beach areas of San Francisco and in Berkeley. After the earthquake, with the work of 52 years in San Francisco laying in ruins, the Sisters immediately set about to meet the challenge of direct service to the victims of the disaster. In the years following, the Sisters extended their educational ministry to serve in a chain of parochial schools which stretched from Seattle, Washington, to Pecos, New Mexico.Presentation Sisters served in a variety of ministries including parishes in catechetical and outreach programs, in education at all levels, in literacy programs for immigrants and the undereducated, in community organizing and justice work, in hospitals, in retreat and spirituality work, prison ministry and foreign missions.
Staten Island, New York
In September, 1874, 12 Presentation Sisters from Ireland, led by Mother Joseph Hickey, responded to an invitation to teach the children of poor Irish immigrants at Saint Michael’s parish in New York City. Because many of the children’s parents had died, St. Michael’s soon opened an orphanage on Staten Island, also staffed by Presentation Sisters. In 1884, this became the home of the newly established Sisters of the Presentation of Staten Island. In 2014 the congregation in Staten Island signed a covenant with New Windsor community. After a final Chapter in 2018, the congregation is now governed in cooperation with the New Windsor congregation.
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