Srs. Mary Amora Binnom, Maria DeWulf, Atonina Lafaele, and Noela Garcia celebrated 50 years as Marist Missionary Sisters in Waltham, Massachusetts on Saturday June 13th in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Sr. Mary Amora Binnom, from Brooklyn, New York, began her missionary work in the Fiji Islands in 1966 doing physiotherapy with leprosy patients. Later she was a pastoral minister in Jamaica and in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Presently she is working in Oakland, California, tutoring and offering trauma and grief counseling for victims of violence.

Sr. Maria DeWulf was born in Belgium, and trained as a nurse in Chicago before entering the Marist Missionary Sisters. She served as a nurse and midwife in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and later in Peru and in South Texas. In recent years she has assisted in the health care of our senior sisters in Waltham.

Sr. Noela Garcia, from Texas, served in pastoral ministry and in administration in Peru and Colombia from 1966 to 1989. Later she continued her ministry among Spanish-speaking people in Brownsville, Texas; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Chicago, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee, and San Bernardino, California. Presently she is a member of our community in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Sr. Malia Atonina Lafaele, from Tonga, received her Diploma in Education at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and then was sent to begin a Home Economics program at St Mary’s High School in Tonga and later at Vaimoso High School in Samoa. She also taught at a vocational school in Savarekareka, Fiji and at Ahopanilolo Technical School in Tonga. Since 2012 she has been Administrator of the Marcus Garvey Basic School in Kingston, Jamaica.