Age 81
An advocate for women, Sister Marie Eloise possessed a feminist consciousness and a strong sense of justice in her work as an educator, professor, and lawyer.
Born in Boise, Idaho and raised in Whittier, California, Sister Marie Eloise first encountered the Sisters of Mercy at St. Paul’s High School in Santa Fe Springs, California. Following graduation from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, with a bachelor’s degree in English, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame, California, at the age of 23. Next, she earned a master’s degree in literature from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.
For nine years, she taught English and religion in high schools and then decided to pursue a doctorate in Christian Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union at the University of California in Berkeley, California. Her extensive studies at the Ecole Biblique, a French academic establishment in Jerusalem specializing in archaeology and Biblical studies, included time in Israel, Egypt and Germany where she fully immersed herself in each locality.
Next, she ministered in academia for 20 years in teaching and administration at the schools she attended, Graduate Theological Union, Santa Clara University, and Santa Clara University. She also taught and served as the director of critical perspectives at St. Mary College in Moraga, California, and was the director of the permanent diaconate for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, California.
Then she got a law degree from Lincoln Law School in San Jose, California. She practiced family law as a civil attorney in private practice, serving both paying and pro bono clients, mostly women. Eloise was a member of a writing team with the Canon Law Society of America, producing a handbook on religious life. In addition to many other publications, she wrote regular Scripture Reflections for the diocesan paper, San Francisco Catholic and gave numerous talks in parishes. She was a co-founder of Mercy Association in Scripture and Theology (MAST) and continued to edit the Mast Journal until her death.