Maryknoller’s mission a ‘source of awe, wonder, joy and gratitude’
Maryknoll Sister Dolores Rosso, who served more than 45 years in Hawaii, mostly at Maryknoll School, died July 6 at Maryknoll, New York. As a Maryknoll Sister for 78 years, her personal motto, from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, was, “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.” She was 97.
Her sister Marie Rosso, also a Maryknoll Sister, was with her when she died.
In the days leading up to Sister Dolores’ death, Sister Marie read to her passages from a paper her sister had written in 1993 about her Maryknoll vocation. She wrote, “My call to mission in Maryknoll has been a source of awe, wonder, joy and gratitude.”
In a 2017 interview in the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Sister Dolores Rosso, reflected how ministry and service did not end with retirement and infirmity but emerged in different ways.
“I was at Maryknoll High School for zillions of years as an educator, and later served as executive director of the alumni association,” she said. “I will never forget Hawaii because of its beauty and the beauty of its people.”
After leaving Hawaii, “life at the Maryknoll motherhouse is very active,” she said. “There is so much offered and given to us here. Our spiritual life is well-taken care of.”
Even though she had become legally blind, she would continue to welcome the stream of visiting former students and fellow sisters returning from the mission fields.
She said she even used her medical appointments as opportunities “to minister to the one ministering or caring for me through our conversations.”
Sister Rosso was born on Feb. 22, 1924, in Philadelphia to Daniel Rosso and Anna (Brennan) Rosso, the oldest of five siblings.
She entered Maryknoll on Sept. 7, 1943, and made her first profession of vows on March 7, 1946, at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, New York, and her final vows there on the same date in 1949.
Her first mission assignment, which lasted 22 years, was as an English and religion teacher at Maryknoll School in Honolulu. Sister Rosso was named Hawaii “Teacher of the Year” in 1966 and served for many years on the Council of Pacific Speech and the National Council of English Teachers. In 1969, she earned a master’s in English literature at the University of Hawaii.
From 1971 to 1982, Sister Rosso served as executive director of the newly established Maryknoll High School Alumni Office. In 2009 she received the Maryknoll Alumnae Association Emeritus Award.
In 1983, Sister Rosso returned to Maryknoll, New York, to be the director of the Maryknoll sisters archives and helped in the merger of the Maryknoll Mission Archives, a collaborative project of the Maryknoll Sisters, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, and Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
She returned to Honolulu to serve, 1991-1994, as the executive director of the Spiritual Life Center, an ecumenical facility for retreats and workshops with a focus on contemplative outreach. The following year, she was appointed as regional archivist for the Maryknoll Sisters Central Pacific Region.
She returned to New York in 1996 for more community work and was back in Hawaii in 1998 to serve for three years on the Regional Leadership Team. From 2003 to 2010, she again worked with the Maryknoll High School Alumni Office.
In 2010, Sister Rosso retired to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York.
Fellow Sister Nonie Gutzler said Sister Rosso “radiated the love to Christ to us her Sisters, to her family, her students and all those she came in touch with.”
Her funeral Mass was celebrated July 13 at Maryknoll, New York.
In her eulogy, Maryknoll Sister Luise Ahrens described Sister Rosso as a “woman of deep prayer, finding strength and inspiration in the Scripture, especially the Psalms.”
“Her early spirituality reflected the language of the times, but her many talks and reflections over the years reveal someone who constantly studied, prayed and read Scripture,” she said.
“Dolores was so aware and in touch with her life and her coming death that those around her felt in their hearts the calm and joy emanating from her in stillness,” Sister Ahrens said.
Sister Rosso is survived by her sister Marie and her brother Thomas.
