Our History
1976
Father William Lloyd Ryan and some of his parishioners at Church of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph, Ontario, met together to discuss two great crises that the Church in Canada was undergoing at the time: the insufficient religious education that school children were receiving and the crisis within religious life.
Praying to the Lord to grant them wisdom, and after several meetings, they discerned that an answer to both problems might be the foundation of a new religious order of women who would be dedicated to living the religious life authentically and teaching our Holy Catholic Faith with courage.
A letter was written with the approval and blessing of Father Ryan and was submitted to Catholic newspapers both in Canada and the United States, with the title "Women: Are you interested in a new Religious Community?"
The letter in the Catholic Register was read by Sister Mary Josephine Mulligan, a Grey Sister of the Immaculate Conception of Pembroke, Ontario. She herself had also felt an inspiration to establish just such a Community, for the good of the Church. It seemed that Divine Providence wanted to establish this new religious family under the care of both a Mother and a Father.
August 1, 1977
Sister Mary Josephine came to Guelph to begin the establishment of the new community in Fr. Ryan’s Parish of Our Lady Immaculate. Sister always kept in mind the ideal of a fervent community of sisters, faithfully living their vows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience. They would have as their principal apostolate the teaching of catechism. It was soon decided that the Community would be known as Sisters of Our Lady Immaculate, being placed under Our Lady's loving and powerful patronage.
1980
Mother Mary Josephine, recognized another great need facing the Church, the care of the elderly and lonely in a society that no longer sees them as necessary but rather a burden. To care for the spiritual and physical needs of these children of God so forgotten and ignored, Mother Mary Josephine opened Marian Residence Retirement Home. The Home provided the elderly with a Catholic environment wherein they could practice their Faith by receiving the sacraments and have the opportunity to grow in that same Faith through the love and care of the sisters.
