Sister Mary Ross

During her years in ministry Sister Mary Ross has worn many hats. They all fit perfectly.
Mary Ross was a Brooklyn girl. She met the Sisters of St. Joseph in kindergarten at Holy Cross School, again while attending elementary school in Immaculate Heart of Mary parish and finally at St. Brendan Diocesan High School. In 1965, on graduating from high school, she joined their congregation.
Unfortunately, after one year, illness forced her to leave in order to resolve the problem and recover. During that time, Mary attended St. Joseph College, earned her degree and taught for one year in the public school system. In 1970 she returned to the Sisters of St. Joseph.

On leaving the novitiate, S. Mary taught in parish elementary schools at St. Philp Neri and St. Martin of Tours. She left teaching in 1981 and became the campus minister at Queens College. For relaxation, she took up running and ran the New York City Marathon twice finishing in four hours and a few minutes! At that time, St. Joseph High School housed the Catholic Learning Center. In 1983 S. Mary went there as a psychometrician and worked with a psychologist doing IQ testing. She also acted as Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools.

However, S. Mary had an inner sensitivity for those who had less opportunity than she especially women in difficult situations. After living in traditional convents for thirteen years, she moved to Providence House where homeless women and children, or women recently released from prison were welcomed to share the home of the Sisters. First, she worked as a Program Director and then, from 1990-1995, she acted as Executive Director. Her life with these women contrasted with her understanding of her own privileged experience and of the struggle and opposition they experienced in life. Realizing the need of advocates for persons who were mired in rigid systems, she decided to study law.

S. Mary received her law degree in 1998 and passed the bar exam on her first attempt! She then joined the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society, the largest non-profit law firm in the country. As a staff attorney she became the first Brentwood CSJ to be a criminal defense attorney defending the indigent. At her office, S. Mary learned of the call for volunteers to go to Afghanistan on a team that would help bring defense law to a country that hadn’t had a defense bar in twenty years. The accused person never saw a defense lawyer. There was only a prosecutor and a judge. In 1981, for eight weeks, she helped to train defense lawyers in Afghanistan and worked to get people out of jail.

Governor David Paterson of New York appointed her a Commissioner of Parole in June 2008 and she was approved by the New York State Senate. S. Mary became the first woman religious in the history of New York State to serve as a Board of Parole Commissioner. In that role, she made decisions with regard to the release of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences in NYS prisons, and she also conducted Victim Impact Meetings. Then, in 2013, S. Mary Ross was appointed an Administrative Law Judge.
After all these productive years, S. Mary’s ministry was interrupted by back surgery and subsequent rehabilitation which also coincided with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. She had to retire from active legal work.

Subsequently, she has been active in participating in congregational committee work as a member of the committee to upgrade the constitutions and on the Coordinating Committee. Occasionally, she still does pro bono work in special cases. Sister Mary Ross has always had the desire to foster positive change. She has tried to improve rigid systems and provide opportunities to women and children for better lives. In the Providence Houses and the legal system she has understood the frailties of people and she has tried to help them develop their strengths.

The early Sisters of St. Joseph’s visits to prisons in 17th-century France and their work with the poor and sick, reflected their core mission of serving the “dear neighbor” and uniting people with God. This demonstrated their commitment to social justice and their care for the marginalized. The Original Constitutions state: “From time to time they will visit prisons, or assign others to this work. Let them procure spiritual and temporal assistance for the imprisoned, according to their ability.” From her work in education to the Providence Houses to her work as a lawyer and judge, Sister Mary Ross has been faithful to this commitment.