Sister Shares Her Many Talents

With no prior experience of being in ministry as an archivist, Mary Chackalackal, SCN, has set up an excellent archival center in Mokama, India.

Recently retired, she has dedicated her life to collecting, preserving, and sharing the Congregation’s rich history in India. It is a history that spans more than seven decades.

Sister Mary recalls her surprise when she was asked to begin this new ministry in 2000. “When the provincial asked me to discern about setting up a room for the archives in Mokama for the first time, I had no particular interest in it and tried my best to get out of it. I told Sister Bridget Kappalumakal that I did not even know the ‘ABCs’ of working in archives.”

However, those that know Sister Mary were not surprised that she said yes, and further that nothing stopped her once she took up this task. Having entered the Congregation from Kerala, India, in 1961, Sister Mary was trained as an educator. She has served as a teacher, principal and vice-principal of many schools. An innovator, when living in the village of Biharsharif, she saw that many children were not attending school. She set up a program, and from 1985 to 1987, taught countless students. In another village, she did the same, teaching around 65 children. Within a year, many of these young men and women had learned enough and gained enough confidence to take admission tests for formal schooling.

Though she continued to teach for short periods when needed, Sister Mary also set about establishing archives. She

Mary Chackalackal, SCN, taught children in nonformal schools during the 1980s in the village of Biharsharif.

poured herself into learning everything she could about her new ministry. Sister Mary is grateful that a number of religious orders offered tours of their archives and guidance. She also embraced technology, took computer instruction, and later traveled to the United States to collaborate and learn from the former archivist at the Motherhouse, Bridgid Clifford, SCN.

When Sister Mary returned to Mokama, she drew up a detailed blueprint for archives and worked countless hours getting everything set up and in place. She says it was a big day when Reverend Mathew Uzhuthal, parish priest of Mokama, blessed the archives in August of 2002. After the archives officially opened, Teresa Xavier Ponnazhath, SCN, helped Sister Mary for two years in collecting necessary materials and selecting what would be housed in the archives. Over the last 21 years, Sister Mary has had two stints in archives, in between requests to help out with other challenging ministries. Archives has been her ministry for about 18 years. “Working in the library and the archives has been one of my longest consecutive assignments in one place,” says Sister Mary.

In addition to this ministry, Sister Mary has made it a point to stay in the classrooms. Over the years, she has taught a three-month English course to new nursing students at Nazareth School of Nursing at Nazareth Hospital, English to SCN candidates, and the history of the Congregation to novices. She also taught English to the young women of the “After Care Home” in Mokama, and helps young women and men from the village prepare for their board examination.

Sister Mary has worked tirelessly to grow and shape lives, and to grow and shape archives. Many say that the archives in Mokama are among the best they have visited. One of the projects she has shepherded is highlighting the contributions of American Sisters who ministered in India and framing their photos for display in Nazareth Convent. She also gathered the obituaries and the photos of deceased Sisters in India, and collected pictures of Sisters who made their first vows in India from 1959 onwards. She researched and collected Province and Congregational documents, letters, and mission newsletters from 1968 to 2020. She’s highlighted the names of all the Sisters elected to lead the Congregation, and written short summaries on each one. She has also gathered extensive information on provincials in India, formation directors, coordinators of ministries, province council and board members, administrators, principals, committee members, treasurers, and secretaries, archivists, and communication coordinators. It is her mission to gather and share SCN history, and it is very important to her that those doing research get to know the people key to these ministries.

Those close to Sister Mary describe her as a woman who deeply loves God and her Community. Sister Mary, meanwhile, says she feels grateful for the ministry that at first, she didn’t really want, but came to love. “I am truly grateful to God who has walked with me all my life guiding, leading, helping, loving, and making me into a wholesome person. I am indebted to all who have had a share in shaping me to become who I am now. And, it is my wish that many more young women and men will choose religious life to serve God and humanity.”