 Sister Rita O'Connell, PBVM is the Director of Health Ministry in St. Irenaeus Parish. Health Ministry is made up of an educational and support network of volunteers collaborating with community resources. It promotes and encourages health of body, mind, and spirit for the parish and the community at large.
 Sister Debbie Gumina, PBVM is a Hospital Social Worker in a 250 bed capacity facility. The facility serves patients from all economic levels and various ethnic backgrounds with large segments of Korean and Hispanic people.
 Sister Mary Dunlea, PBVM teaches 5th grade at St. Bonaventure School in Huntington Beach, CA. There are 625 students in the school. The school population is predominantly white with increasing numbers of Hispanic/Latino, Vietnamese and Filipino. Among all of these ethnic groups each year there is a significant number of single parents with the mother having the major responsibility for raising the children.
Sister Rosaleen O'Connell, PBVM is the Secretary of the Provincial Leadership Team.
Sister Clare Conway, PBVM works as a Literacy volunteer.
Sister Margarita Meenahan, PBVM is currently retired but works on a volunteer basis with H.O.P.E., a parish based community service organization dedicated to serving the less fortunate in the Cypress area, the Legion of Mary, as well as taking care of community correspondence.
The city of Cypress is an Orange County economically middleclass neighborhood, with a population of 48,863 and a median number of 3 persons per household. The makeup of the population is 65% white, 20% Asian and 5% Hispanic or Latino. Beyond these official statistics, Cypress and surrounding cities have an uncounted population of working poor. These are individuals and families who live in aging one-room motels and whose income is below poverty level. Parishioners at St. Irenaeus Church operate a Food Bank for approximately 450 registered families, who receive food, clothing, and household items twice a month. The Food Bank is located in the convent and rectory garages.
In the future, we would like to see the Presentation Sisters taking care of the unmet needs of the Parish. For example: addressing the needs of the materially poor, providing adult formation and affordable Catholic education to all. |
