May 31, 2019

OBITUARY: Sister Mary Horgan, SP        

REGIONAL

HOLYOKE – Sister of Providence Mary Horgan, formerly known as Sister Marie Visitation, died on May 31 in the 66th year of her religious life.

Born in Worcester, Mass., she was the daughter of the late Joseph and Mary (O’Leary) Horgan. She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1954. Her sister, Ann, joined the Sisters of Providence congregation six years later.

Sister Horgan’s first assignment was to the toddlers’ section at Our Lady of Providence Children’s Home (Brightside) in West Springfield, before she entered college in 1958 to become a nurse. After receiving her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Boston College in 1962, she ministered first at the Sisters of Providence Infirmary, then at Providence and Mercy hospitals.

She continued her graduate education, receiving a master’s degree in nursing education from The Catholic University, Washington, D.C., in 1965. She taught nursing at the Providence Hospital School of Nursing and in 1970 became an associate professor in nursing (medical-surgical) at Holyoke Community College and helped develop its nursing program. She was elected to the council of the Sisters of Providence (SP) and served from 1973 to 1977.

She shifted her ministry focus in 1973, taking a clinical pastoral education program at Westborough State and Mercy hospitals and becoming an associate chaplain at Mercy Medical Center. She was elected to a second term on the SP’s General Council and served as assistant director from 1977 to 1981. She then studied at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., where she received a master of divinity degree in 1984. 

Next she served as director of mission and philosophy for the Sisters of Providence Health System until 1989, when she became director of pastoral care at Mount St. Vincent Nursing Home. While there, she also was a spiritual director at the Spiritual Life Center of St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Conn., and at Genesis Spiritual Life Center in Westfield.  

In 1997, Sister Horgan was elected for four years to the SP general council and was named vice-president. She also was chairperson of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Region 1 from 2004-2007. She also joined the staff of Genesis Spiritual Life Center, retiring in March 2014.

She volunteered in Brightside’s Literacy Program, was co-director of the SP Associate Program and served on the boards of St. Joseph of the Pines Health System in North Carolina and Providence Ministries for the Needy, as well as serving as chair of the Mont Marie Health Care Center’s Ethics Committee.

She is survived by her sisters in community; and by her sisters, Sister of Providence Ann Horgan, and Sheila Horgan; and her brothers, Joseph and Robert Horgan.

The wake will be held on Sunday, June 2 from 3-6:30 p.m. at Providence Place, 5 Gamelin St., Holyoke, with a wake service at 6 p.m. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, June 3 at 10 a.m. in the Providence Place Chapel.

Memorial donations may be made to the Sisters of Providence, 5 Gamelin St., Holyoke, MA 01040.