Two sisters who served in Utah ministries each mark 50 years of vowed religious life

Friday, Jun. 06, 2014

Racine Dominican Sister Janet (Mary Benet) Ackerman and Holy Cross Sister Madeleine Marie Clayton each are celebrating 50 years of ministry.

Sr. Janet, of Henderson, Nev., was born in Madison, Wisc., and earned a bachelor’s degree from Dominican College, Racine, and a certificate of Specialization in Aging from the Nevada Geriatric Education Center. She taught in Wisconsin schools for several years. In 1978 she and three other sisters started a mission in Nampa, Idaho. 

Since 1986, Sr. Janet has ministered in Utah and Nevada. In Wendover, she worked on the Immigration and Reform Act to legalize more than 200 first-generation Mexican-Americans, and helped establish Mission San Felipe as co-pastoral administrator. In Provo, she ministered as a Hispanic home visitor, taught RCIA in Spanish and worked as a coordinator of parish ministries. In Henderson, Nev., she developed Community Needs Assessment for St. Rose Dominican Hospital and worked at the HACA Family Resource Center as case manager, developing programs for seniors. Also in Henderson, she served as intake coordinator for Helping Hands, an outreach program of St. Rose; and at St. Rose Hospice she was a spiritual counselor; in addition to ministering at SAFEHouse, a shelter for abused women and children. 

The Racine Dominicans have served for more than 150 years in Wisconsin, Nevada and several other states. They are a religious community of sisters and lay associates who live by the mission “committed to truth, compelled to justice.”

Sr. Madeleine Marie will be honored July 20 during a jubilee celebration in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto at Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Ind., for her 50 years of consecrated life as a Sister of the Holy Cross. 

Born in San Francisco, Calif., Sr. Madeleine Marie moved to Salt Lake City when she was 2. She and her family belonged to Sacred Heart Parish, from which she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in September 1961. 

She made her first profession of vows on Aug. 15, 1964, and her perpetual profession on Aug. 15, 1970. While in Notre Dame, Ind., Sr. Madeleine Marie earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College in 1966.  She also holds a master’s degree from Saint Joseph’s College in West Hartford, Conn.

After teaching in elementary schools in California and Idaho for four years, Sr. Madeleine Marie went to the University of Seattle to study nursing. From 1973 to 1980, she nursed in Holy Cross hospitals in Idaho and California. She also was one of several Sisters of the Holy Cross who served with Catholic Relief Services in Thailand, giving aid to refugees.  She later worked as a hospital chaplain at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, Boise, Idaho, and did social work at the Women’s Center in Fresno, Calif.  

In 1989, Sister Madeleine Marie went to Fort Portal, Uganda, where she ministered in health care and social work.  She returned to the United States in 2007 and currently serves the congregation as area councilor for the sisters of North America, residing in Los Angeles, Calif. 

(Information for this article was taken from press releases sent by the Racine Dominicans and the Sisters of the Holy Cross.)