Holy Cross sisters celebrate Golden Jubilee

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Sister Celine Dounies, CSC

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Nine Sisters of the Holy Cross are celebrating Jubilees this year. Among them are Sister Celine Dounies, CSC, who currently serves as a teacher at Saint John the Baptist Elementary School in Draper, and Sister Helene Sharp, CSC, who taught at Our Lady of Lourdes School and Saint Joseph School. She also served for eight years in parish ministry at St. Elizabeth Parish in Richfield.

The jubilarians will be honored on July 21, during a special Mass in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto at Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Ind.

Sr. Celine and Sr. Helene will both be honored for 50 years of service in religious life. They made their initial profession of vows on August 15, 1969, and their perpetual profession on July 28, 1974.   

Sr. Celine, who is originally from Bakersfield, Calif., earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson. She has served in the ministry of elementary education for 44 years. In Utah Sr. Celine has taught at Bishop Glass School (now closed) and Our Lady of Lourdes School in Salt Lake City; Blessed Sacrament School, Sandy; and Saint John the Baptist Elementary School, Draper.  

She also taught at St. Joseph’s School, Boise, Idaho; Holy Rosary School, Idaho Falls; and at schools in Tucson, Ariz., and Lynwood, Calif. For three years, she served in liturgy and volunteer service with the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Tiberias, Israel.

Sr. Helene currently serves in vocation ministry with Saint Mary’s College, Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind. She was born in Ely, Nev. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson, and a Master of Arts from Santa Clara University, Calif.

Sr. Helene served in the ministry of education for 16 years in Twin Springs, Nev.; Lynwood, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash., along with Our Lady of Lourdes School, Salt Lake City, and Saint Joseph School in Ogden and at St. Pius School in Redwood City, Calif. She served eight years of parish ministry at St. Elizabeth Parish in Richfield, Utah from 1987 to 1995. In Kasoa, Ghana, West Africa, she continued her parish ministry work, serving at St. Martha Parish for 11 years.

Sr. Helene later worked for four years as office manager for the Holy Cross Skills Training Centre, Takoradi, Ghana. She ministered as the Congregation’s vocation coordinator for the United States for five years before entering her present ministry in January 2019.

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross is an international community of women religious whose motherhouse is in Notre Dame, Ind. Sisters of the Holy Cross are called to be witnesses of God’s transforming love for the life of the world. Their ministries focus on providing education and health care services, eradicating material poverty and ending discrimination.