By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Maryknoll Sister Joan Chatfield, who served 63 years in Hawaii as a leader in the sprawling mission fields of education, social justice and interreligious affairs, died on March 1 in Honolulu. She was 86 and in religious life for 68 years.
Her death was unexpected, the result of striking her head in a fall at her Manoa convent the previous evening.
Nine years ago, she reflected in the Hawaii Catholic Herald on her 60th anniversary as a Maryknoll sister.
That event she said, “proclaims how good God is and how grateful I am.”
“My years … have sped, rich beyond measure,” Sister Joan said. “The Holy Spirit makes all things new and the life of a religious in these times is such a great gift and witness.”
Grateful of her work in education, administration and interfaith relations, she said, “Heaven will not be long enough to tap the richness. The best is yet to come!”
A statement by the Maryknoll Sisters on her death said Sister Joan “brought people together from all different cultures, faiths and beliefs and helped them realize that the lines that seem to separate us are erased with love, understanding, forgiveness and compassion for one another.”
She was described as a “wise, vocal, spiritual leader” loved for her humor, her story-telling and her “genuine interest in the well-being of others.”
In 2009, she was recognized by Honpa Hongwanji Buddhist Mission of Hawaii as a “Living Treasure of Hawaii,” a high honor.
Sister Joan, was born on Oct. 7, 1932, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Angela (Mc Cahill) Chatfield and Henry Summers Chatfield. She had two sisters, Olive and Mary.
Upon graduating from Mount St. Dominic Academy in Caldwell, New Jersey, she entered the Maryknoll Sisters novitiate in Maryknoll, New York, on Sept. 6, 1950, receiving the religious name Sister Dominic Rosaire. She made her first profession of vows on March 7, 1953, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her final profession on March 7, 1959, in Honolulu. She returned to her baptismal name Joan the Second Vatican Council.
She earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology and chemistry from Manhattanville College in Harrison, New York, a master’s in New Testament and early Christian community studies from the University of San Francisco and a doctorate in sociology of religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
Sister Joan was assigned to Hawaii in 1956. She taught at St Ann High School in Kaneohe for three years, St. Anthony High School, Wailuku, Maui, for eight years and Maryknoll High School in Honolulu for four years.
In 1976, she was named executive director of the Institute for Religion and Social Change, an organization that promotes interfaith activities and social justice.
Sister Joan was the ecumenical officer for the Diocese of Honolulu during the 1980s, served as dean of humanities and fine arts at Chaminade University of Honolulu in the 1990s and was a board member for Interfaith Alliance Hawaii and chairwoman of its Commission on Ethics and Public Life.
From 2003 to 2019, she served as president of three groups in Hawaii: Church Women United, All Believers Network and the Global Youth Center.
In a 2013 interview in the Hawaii Catholic Herald, she talked about turning 80 and her interfaith work. “I love being 80,” she said. “I actually realize now that my best times in life are when I am with people of other religious persuasions and how we come together. It is exciting to be in the work of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue right here in Hawaii.”
Sister Joan’s funeral was scheduled for March 21 at Sacred Heart Church, Punahou. Her burial was planned for the same day at Diamond Head Memorial Park.
