Early Life
Mary Joseph Rogers was born in 1882 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to a middle class, Roman Catholic family. On her mother's side she descended from Yankee Congregationalists, and the Rogers family was well established in Massachusetts. The Catholic Church at the time stressed the integration of recent immigrants, particularly the Irish and Italians, into American society and faithfully taught the catechism as compatible with American values. The Church, however, did not encourage Bible study or stress what Protestants called “the Great Commission” to spread the faith throughout the nonbelieving world. Even the most pious Catholic homes frequently contained no Bible.
As a child, Mollie Rogers attended public rather than the pervasive parochial schools. There she encountered children of several Protestant denominations. When time came for college she chose Smith, a secular, all-female institution of distinguished lineage, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. In those days few women attended college, and those at Smith were idealistic, intellectually curious, and ambitious. Even in old age, Rogers would remember, as one of the formative experiences of her life, witnessing the enthusiasm of Smith's Protestant women involved in mission study and hearing them singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Through much prayer and reflection, she became convinced that foreign missions were also the responsibility of Catholics.
Rogers graduated from Smith in 1905 and promptly enrolled in Boston Normal School to train as a teacher. But her attention turned again to Smith College when, on the recommendation of her professors, the college appointed her a “demonstrator” in its Department of Zoology. Though serving conscientiously in this capacity, she still felt the call to mission evangelism. The college allowed her to form a study class in missions for its Catholic students. For assistance, she contacted the Boston priest, Father James Walsh, who directed the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He alerted her to the Catholic Foreign Mission Bureau, which was already embarking on a program to increase awareness of the duty of U.S. Catholics to spread their gospel. During vacation months from Smith duties, Rogers eagerly volunteered her services to these organizations.
Although Smith professors, pleased with her service, encouraged her to pursue graduate work toward a teaching career, Rogers chose rather to join Father Walsh in missionary outreach. She was pleased, however, when in 1906 Father Thomas Price, a South Carolina collaborator in this work, outlined plans with Walsh to establish a missionary training institute. She could see a future combining her mission vocation with teaching. Because both Price and Walsh were influential clergymen, Rome quickly approved their plans. Rogers would discover in future years that her requests to Rome would rarely receive such immediate attention. While women in holy orders might be free to teach children and nurse the sick, the Church held women in general suitable chiefly for homemaking. Vatican officials feared for the safety of single women in foreign lands and even voiced reservations about the ability of the American church to conduct foreign missions at that time.
Life's Work
Rogers' enthusiasm soon attracted other young women eager to devote their lives to mission work. In the early decades of the twentieth century, few professions were open to intelligent women wishing to see the world and contribute to broader society. The Church hierarchy still did not look with favor on female students of theology, and educated women often discovered they were less desirable as wives, their possible husbands fearing they would be discontent with confinement to home and hearth. For Catholic young women, religious sisterhood offered one of the few possibilities for a career outside the home. But this choice was not always easy; women had to demonstrate a genuine spiritual vocation and adequate financial support had to be available. Throughout her own career, Rogers would assist women in overcoming these obstacles by finding vocations in appropriate religious orders that could use their talents.
When U.S. bishops in 1911 approved the American Foreign Mission Seminary, Rogers moved to Hawthorne, New York, where she came face to face with Mother Alphonsa Lathrop, O.P., born Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne and a convert to Catholicism. Mother Alphonsa quickly recognized Rogers' potential and became her mentor. A woman of influence, Mother Alphonsa was alert to the challenges facing the Church in the New World. She had already founded her own community of Dominican sisters, ministering to the poor, especially those with terminal disease. Thirty years Rogers' senior, she understood the ways women were underutilized in the Church. Using her own resources, she had enabled the Maryknoll missionary order to purchase property for a permanent location in Ossining, New York, in sight of the picturesque Hudson River.
Also in 1911, two strong co-workers, Mary Louise Wholean and Sara Sullivan joined Rogers, and other women soon asked to participate in their endeavor. Initially the group was referred to as “the secretaries,” relegated largely to domestic and clerical work. But a short time later the “secretaries” got a promotion of sorts. Under Rogers' leadership, in 1912 Church officials decided to call them Teresians, after St. Teresa of Avila. Moving to St. Teresa's Lodge, a residence on the Maryknoll compound, they were now a recognized community within the Church though not yet an official sisterhood order.
In 1914 though war clouds loomed over Europe, Rogers was able to visit Lourdes in France and then travel to Rome. Two years later, through the influence of Father John T. McNicholas, O.P., the Teresians were officially enrolled as Dominican Tertiaries, regarded as a first step toward full acceptance as a religious sisterhood. The group now numbered seventeen anxious and dedicated young women. Permission for new religious orders had to come directly from Rome, and the women faced frustrating delays. Their first petition, duly sent, was unsuccessful, presumably because it did not arrive at the proper Vatican desk. Rome further denied their resubmitted petition, while encouraging them to organize women willing to work without taking full vows.
Despite efforts the Teresians made to meet all of Rome's requirements, Vatican authorities, regarding their statement of objectives unclear and believing their financial support still uncertain, refused a second formal petition in 1918. The women and their supporters nevertheless persevered.
Rogers' Lasting Achievements
The reforms of the Second Vatican Council throw new light on the achievements of Rogers. The voices of women in the Church can now be heard more clearly. Women in holy orders have become freer in movement, in attire, and the expression of opinions. Both those in holy orders and laywomen are now encouraged to study the Scriptures. The Catholic Church acknowledges the sincerity of other Christian groups and the fact that Christian denominations can learn from one another. Rogers' life and career reveal one of the strengths of a religiously pluralistic society. She never forgot what she learned as a young Smith student about the selfless aspirations of Protestant women.
Though Rogers was always obedient to her Church hierarchy, her insistence that missionary sisters be as self-reliant and able as their male counterparts and her belief that they must be educated and respected in the same manner was a harbinger of Vatican II reforms.
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic are still active throughout the world. A Corporate Board directs all programs, with Sister Antoinette Gutzler its president. Approximately 500 women serve in over twenty-four countries, advocating for civil and human rights, education, the environment, health care, women's advancement, peace, and the protection of youth. Maryknoll Sisters maintain a long commitment to fighting human trafficking, which they see as an ever-growing problem touching all continents. The sisterhood has become multi-cultural, with over thirty nationalities represented, speaking twenty-five languages. The order has modernized, as has the rest of the Church. They no longer wear traditional habits, but clothing appropriate to their various tasks. Because the Catholic Church has seen a serious decline in religious vocations, numerous lay people are now employed by the order, which also welcomes volunteer workers. The stated policy of the order is to grant employment regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.
The following year, with the end of World War I, approval seemed more likely. Salvation Army lasses had proven women could work effectively in difficult situations, even near hostilities. The Teresians prepared a third petition and made sure it was hand delivered to Rome rather than mailed. This time approval was granted. They became a diocesan congregation to be called the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic. Though some women had left the group, discouraged by the many setbacks and delays, others were found ready to begin the serious work. The first of their missionaries began work among Japanese populations of Los Angeles and Seattle. A bit later, a delegation left for China.
Rogers believed that missionary sisters, often ignorant of the Scriptures though devoted to the Church, must receive the same education as male priests training for the mission field. She was confident that missions would flourish only with properly prepared women, who understood the hazards of their commitment, respected the customs of those they served, and were devoid of unrealistic visions of success. To implement further her program, Rogers personally visited Asian missions in 1923.
Back in Maryknoll, in 1925, Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes of New York appointed Rogers the first prioress of the new order. She would be called Mother Mary Joseph. Now with additional authority, she made her second exploratory trip to Asia the following year. She observed that sisters active in the field were often too consumed by their duties to find sufficient time for prayer and meditation. The solution, she believed, would be a contemplative order of sisters whose daily prayers would support the women in foreign lands. She established this subsidiary order, with a rule faithful to the Dominican doctrine that some physical labor must supplement study, prayer, and contemplation.
In 1937, a new war appeared imminent, and Washington denied Rogers a passport for a third mission visitation to Asia. She was able, however, in 1940 to travel to Honolulu, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, visiting the sisters there who were sharing wartime deprivations. During this time, the sisters assured her their work was more necessary than ever. As war refugees flooded into Hong Kong, the sisters became active participants in the social work of government agencies there. The sisterhood had grown and could staff two large schools. Other sisters assisted in soup kitchens, clinics, and food and clothing distribution centers. Rogers commended the courage of these women despite wartime dangers throughout the Pacific, including the mysterious disappearance of a member of the order in the Philippines.
In 1946 the General Chapter of Rogers' order unanimously reelected her to serve a fourth term as Mother Superior. However, a church rule stipulated that only two terms for such offices be permitted. She had already violated this rule by serving three terms, without objections from ecclesiastical superiors. Now Rome refused to bend its rules further, fearing the emergence of a personality cult. Though disappointed, Rogers accepted without protest the decision and set about determining new ways to be useful to the order.
News of Rogers' work spread outside Church circles. Twice, her alma mater, Smith College had sought to award her an honorary degree. Suspicious of Protestant or secular motives, in that time before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) liberalized attitudes toward “separated brethren,” her bishop had refused permission for her to accept the honor, although similar honors from Catholic universities had been allowed. But wartime cooperation now eased tensions. In 1950, Rogers was able to respond positively to Smith's third request to bestow an honorary doctorate in humane letters. Never having forgotten her debt to Smith and the Protestant missionary students who had inspired her there, she was now able to spend a happy week at her alma mater.
In 1954, just a year before her death of a stroke, Rome designated the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation as a pontifical institute, changing the name from Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic to Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic. Finally, Rogers was able to see the Church granting its full recognition to the work she and her sisters had accomplished.
Though Rogers has never been beatified or canonized by her church and is still little known outside Catholic circles, her influence within has been great and continues.