Maryknoll, NY: Sister Frances Mary Horan, missioner to Panama, died on March 1st, 2019 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, in Maryknoll, NY. She was born in Philadelphia, PA on April 8th, 1924 to Isabelle A. (Hart) Horan and Daniel A. Horan. She was baptized Frances Mary at St. John the Baptist Church, in Philadelphia. She had two sisters, Marie and Anna and seven brothers: Robert, William, Eugene, Daniel, James, Frances and Joseph. Her parents and all of her siblings have predeceased her.
In 1942, Frances graduated from St. John the Baptist High School in Philadelphia. After graduation, she worked at the U.S.A. Government Office (Social Security) for two months and at H.E. Trent Co. as a clerk for two years. She then entered the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate in Maryknoll, NY on September 6th, 1944.
At her Reception into the Congregation she received the religious name Sister Consolata Marie, but returned to her baptismal name after Vatican Council II. She made her First Profession of Vows on March 7th, 1947 and her Final Vows on March 7th, 1950; both at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, NY.
Sister Frances did not receive her first overseas assignment until 1987, before that she served for many years in the United States (1966-1971): at the nursing home at the Maryknoll Sisters Center; doing Catechetics in Houston, TX; at Valley Park Novitiate in MO; at St. Therese School as office secretary in Chicago Chinatown.
From 1971-1973, Sister Frances studied full-time at DePaul University in Chicago, where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary School Education. After graduation, she returned to St. Therese School in Chicago, where she taught and was Assistant Principal until 1983. That same year, she was assigned to the Treasury Department at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY, until she received her first overseas assignment to Panama in 1987.
After studying Spanish in Guatemala, she moved to St. Mary’s Parish in Balboa, Panama in 1988 to work with the Vincentian Fathers. There she was a member of the Urban Pastoral Team and Director of Religious Education. In 2008 she retired, but continued to do pastoral work and made visits to the sick and elderly until her return to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York in 2012.
A Vespers service will be held for Sister Frances on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at Maryknoll Sisters Center.
A funeral Mass will follow on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. also in the Main Chapel at the Center. Interment will follow in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the Center grounds.