Loretto to Leave St. Albert School a Loving Legacy

By Mary Ann Lovett

While recently reading Venture Into the Unknown, I felt saddened that I hadn’t known all about Loretto’s presence in China before I visited my daughter in Shanghai in 2006. I would have ventured into the districts and streets where Loretto sisters had lived and taught, but those facts weren’t known by me then. I don’t even know if the buildings at #10 Route Pottier and 116 Quinsan Road would still be there, but I would have looked for some sign of the presence of the Sisters of Loretto. About the time I was reading PJ Manion’s book, the announcement came that Samina Iqbal, Maria Daniel and Nasreen Daniel were going to be moving to Lahore, Pakistan, sometime in 2016. It would be poignant to leave a mark of Loretto’s presence at St. Albert School in Faisalabad, Pakistan, where our Pakistan sisters had been serving.

The Pakistan Committee discussed and measured what could be done to ensure that the legacy of Loretto would remain at St. Albert’s. We considered a couple of things and consulted with Maria, Samina and Nasreen for their direct input. With their joy and blessing, we decided that a simple banner that stated a Loretto motto with the dates of 2011-2016 and Sisters of Loretto could be hung in the school to stamp our presence not only on the hearts of families and all others who traveled through, but on the buildings themselves. We asked co-member Robert Strobridge to create this banner. Robert, who has created many beautiful banners for Loretto, was an art instructor at Webster University when I was a student there in the mid-1960s and now resides in France. He donated his skill and the graphic. The letters and design fit the region of Pakistan well. The green color is the main color of the Pakistan flag. This design has been sent directly to Nasreen, and she will find an appropriate outlet to print it and provide museum grade framing for it to be placed in St. Albert School.

The committee also felt it would be appropriate to offer to faculty, students and friends something personal for them to recall the dedication of the Loretto Community. With the gracious goodness of a group of physicians in Louisville, a water purifier has become a mainstay at the school for families and students to get clean drinking water. The sisters agreed that water bottles inscribed with Sisters of Loretto, 2011-2016 would be appropriate mementos. The bottles would exhibit the joy of the companionship shared by sisters, students, families and friends and provide all whom the sisters have touched with assurance that they remain in the hearts of our sisters.

We would like to invite the whole Loretto Community to share in this opportunity to mark the Loretto legacy at St. Albert School. Both Loretto Academy and St. Mary’s Academy students are raising money during Lent to send to our sisters at St. Albert so they can purchase new school supplies for the incoming faculty and students for the next school year.

If some readers would like to make a donation to defray the costs of printing and framing the banner and purchasing the water bottles, contact Helen Santamaria, members of the Pakistan Committee or me for information on how to proceed.

Scenes from St. Albert School