Sister Michele Anne Murphy (formerly Sister Mary John Michael)

As WWII developed in the Pacific, Sister Michele Anne’s parents decided they needed to help their country. Her father, Bill, joined the Army and was stationed in the Aleutian Islands while her mother, Jane, remained at home volunteering with other neighborhood women preparing supplies for the troops abroad, and caring for her newborn, Michele Anne, and her other children.

After the war, the Murphy family, now including four children, was stationed throughout the United States and France until Bill’s untimely death in 1957, when they returned to San Francisco. Their loving and venturesome life provided for strong family ties as well as the capacity to live among and welcome a diversity of peoples in their home. Packing and unpacking each year grew to be a regular routine. Changing schools annually from first grade until Michele Anne, dubbed “Mike,” came to Presentation High School, San Francisco midway through her sophomore year afforded numerous opportunities for Catholic as well as public school experiences. Releasing the known and taking the risk to start anew were weighty lessons for the future. Her Dad’s words of encouragement, “Everything will be okay in 30 days!” resound as a mantra even today. In retrospect, Sister Michele Anne says that she feels the scripture quoted above "was the message my Mom and Dad gave to us and lived as we were growing up, although I was not familiar with the quote until later in my life."

St. John Vianney, 1983	25th Jubilee, 1988	St. John Vianney, 2002

The initial time of Sister Michele Anne’s formation occurred at Presentation Center, Los Gatos in 1960 and at USF. From 1964-2016, she taught and administered in elementary schools in the East and South Bay, as well as spending four wonderful years in the Pacific Northwest in Edmonds, Washington. From the first moment she walked into the classroom, she recognized this was her call to ministry. She happily inherited her classroom supplies from one of the Sisters who was missioned to Mexico. Subsequently, her rich experiences as teacher, co-principal, parish staff member, collaborator at the Diocesan level, and member of a variety of congregational committees provided the backdrop for learning deep life relationships. The ability to be of service with others and advocate for justice - whether preparing and serving meals to the homeless, providing towels for a mobile shower, marching for the rights of farmworkers, caring for the sick and dying, participating in the faith, liturgical, and educational formation of parents and staff, and walking alongside and listening to others - have been some ways given to Sister Michele Anne to practice the Gospel.
 

Vacation!

A favorite memory was when Sister Michele Anne and another Sister were missioned to St. John Vianney School as co-principals, a new model of administration. Since one of them needed to be officially appointed as principal, they stood in the school yard and flipped a coin for the position. Mike called out “Heads” and it was determined that her partner would bring chocolate chip cookies if a jail visit ensued.

As a member of the PBVM Education Committee, Michele Anne is proud to reflect on the time she and her cohorts advocated for the first teacher salary and benefit scale, in place of Sisters’ stipends. Additionally, the age of digital technology ushered in the first computers in the schools and thus required a critical change in educational thinking. Picking up their APPLE SEs each week and travelling across town, the principals committed to learning new skills together; nonetheless the daunting experience resulted in laughing and enjoying as well as abundant relationships as administrators.

Living with a smaller community in the neighborhoods of East and Downtown San Jose put Sister Michele Anne alongside her neighbors and their mutual concerns and needs rather than being in a traditional convent. A new perspective of institutional living and a freeing manner of interdependent living matured for her along the way.

In 2016, Michele Anne knew it was time to use her knowledge and skills in direct service to the congregation when she was called to leadership as President. The highlights of this work were to minister as a member of a Leadership Team and move forward with her Sisters and extended communities of Sisters and Presentation People in a new era of religious life. She will always be grateful for the trust, energy, and commitment her Sisters showed in a new time of change and transformation.

Since 2022, Sister Michele Anne has taken her life’s journey to a new meaning of mission where her previously acquired abilities and experiences in ministry, and the occurrence of dealing with her own cancer, have allowed her to accompany other women undergoing cancer treatment. This newfound mission is alive, hopeful, and a further blessing in her calling and gift as a woman religious today. It is primarily being, not doing.

Meaningful quotations:

". . .the courage to show up even when we have no knowledge of the outcome." -Jane Herb,IHM, 2021 LCWR President

"When you lose someone you love, you learn to live not without them but with the love they left behind." -Charles Schulz

Ministries: