Sr. Mary Griffin, FMM

A Bostonian by birth, Sr. Mary came from a large, happy Irish family of ten children. She had vivid childhood memories of fun and activity, and the family gathered around the piano, her mother playing, and everyone singing. Other memories are of having shared in the responsibility of caring for her younger brothers and sisters, like walking baby carriages after school and of her policeman father working double to support them.

Sr. Mary worked as a secretary after graduating from high school and was active in her parish. Soon afterwards she became a volunteer at Kennedy Memorial Hospital (later known as Franciscan Children’s Hospital). It was there that Sr. Mary eventually took a permanent position and worked for fourteen years. It was there also that Sr. Mary loving the hospital atmosphere and witnessing the hard work, Eucharistic prayer and deep love that the sisters had for the children, decided to enter the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She did so in 1979 and was a novice at Nazareth in Fruit Hill and later in Chicago.

As a novice, Sr. Mary had a mission experience in Texas and later a cross-cultural mission experience in Chicago and Gary, Indiana. She spent one year in the FMM school in Fall River where she taught religion, CCD and tutored reading. Sr. Mary then went to Fruit Hill and worked at the Day Program for the Elderly and studied Spanish at Providence College to prepare for the Young Religious Meeting she attended in Argentina. Often in and out of Fruit Hill, Sr. Mary helped in the infirmary, loving the elderly sisters. Sr. Mary spent the last year before her final vows at 45th St. where she taught religion and was librarian in a school in the South Bronx. After her final vows, August 1986, Sr. Mary was missioned to Columbia. For this assignment, she spent five weeks in intensive language study at the Mexican American Cultural Center in Texas. Sr. Mary fulfilled a dream of working with the poor in her mission in South America.

Sr. Mary always loved to travel and before entering went as a leader- helper on several Lourdes pilgrimages; she also traveled to The Holy Land, Greece, Ireland, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Word games, reading, dancing, music, bowling, and being with people were things she loved to do.

Sr. Mary returned to the US in 1993 and was sent in mission to the community in Chamberino, New Mexico, where she continued her pastoral care ministry and served as a member of the Province Vocation Team. After graduating with a BA in Sociology and Religious Studies from Emmanuel College in Boston, she was missioned to Ein Karim Community to minister to the elderly sisters at St. Antoine's Residence. She became Religious Outreach Program Coordinator in 1999 at McMahon Services for Children, Foster Care and Adoption in Manhattan and in 2001 was Pastoral Assistant at Holy Name of Jesus Church. Sr. Mary became the recipient of the Francis Medal from Holy Name of Jesus Province of the OFM’S in 2005.

After a sabbatical at Berakah, NH, Sr. Mary took up the position of Province Secretary in 2012 and served in this role until 2023. In May 2024 she was appointed local coordinator of Queen of Peace, Community, Fruit Hill.

She continued in this service until she was missioned to Marillac Residence, Assisted Living in Wellesley, MA. Due to continuing health challenges, Sr. Mary transferred to Elizabeth Seaton Residence for full nursing care in March 2026. Sr. Mary passed away peacefully at Newton Wellesley Hospital on March 21, 2026. May she rest in peace in the arms of our loving God.

Visitation for Sr. Mary will be held Thursday, March 26, 2026 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, 399 Fruit Hill Ave, North Providence, RI 02911. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, March 27, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in the Missionary. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Cumberland.