Angelus News | August 27, 2021 | Vol. 6 No. 17

A word from our sisters
The work of LA’s vast ‘community of
communities’ of religious sisters is getting
a much-needed helping hand.
Sisters at the annual Religious Jubilarians Mass in 2016
with then-Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Brennan.
BY TOM HOFFARTH / PHOTOGRAPHY BY VICTOR ALEMÁN
Spread across 120 active congregations, orders, and religious
institutions and living in several hundred different
locations in three counties, keeping track of the more
than 1,200 religious sisters living and ministering in the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles is no easy task.
That job belongs to Sister Maria Carlos Valdez, EIN, vicar
for women religious for the archdiocese, who likes to think
of the sisters under her purview not as a group but rather a
“community of communities.”
Herself a product of a bicultural and bilingual upbringing,
Sister Maria has a better appreciation than anyone of the
sisters’ diversity, whether in terms of their different charisms
or their cultural backgrounds.
For example, she cites the Lovers of the Holy Cross in
Gardena, marveling at how sisters whose first language is Vietnamese
can work in education, health, and homelessness
outreach under the congregation’s superior general, Sister
Grace Duc Le.
“They’re individuals who belong to one community, and
what one does will impact the whole group,” Sister Maria
said. “They have a feeling that they’re not alone.”
The Missionaries of Charity (founded by St. Teresa of
Calcutta), based in Lynwood, shows a selflessness to simply
be present and listen to those in need, especially in solidarity
with women on Skid Row.
Archbishop José H. Gomez with sisters of the Missionaries of Charity during a
2018 visit to St. Emydius Church in Lynwood.
18 • ANGELUS • August 27, 2021