Trudy Considine, RSCJ

Birth: June 24, 1942
Profession: January 6, 1972
Death: July 24, 2024

 

Religious of the Sacred Heart, Trudy Considine died on July 24, 2024, in Atherton, California. She was 82 years old and a religious for 62 years. Trudy was born on June 24, 1942, in San Francisco, California, to Charles Ray Considine and Thalia Kelly Considine. She was one of eleven children with eight brothers and two sisters. Trudy graduated in 1960 from Convent of the Sacred Heart in El Cajon, California, and entered the Society of the Sacred Heart there in 1962. She made her first vows in 1965 and afterward remained at El Cajon teaching and serving as dormitory mistress.

 She attended Lone Mountain College, graduating in 1968 with a BA in Theology. From 1966 to 1971, Sister Considine taught at Sacred Heart Schools in San Francisco, and Bellevue, Washington. In 1971, she left for probation and made her final profession in Rome in 1972.

After she returned from Rome, Sister Considine began teaching at Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She also taught at St. Margaret Mary School in Albany, New York (1973-1975) and the South End Community Collaborative in Albany until 1977, after which she completed graduate studies at Boston College earning an MA in Theology in 1978. Sister Considine then taught and served as a Religious Education coordinator at St. Jean’s School in Newton, Massachusetts. From 1981 until 1985, Sister Considine worked in the college guidance office at Newton Country Day School. In 1986, she moved to St. Louis and went to work at the St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA). Her contact with immigrants and their struggles led to a desire to learn Spanish. She would later serve as a translator and typist for the IFCLA.

Her subsequent ministries included advocating for immigrants. She left St. Louis for San Diego in 1987 and began working with the San Diego Interfaith Task Force on Central America as an assistant coordinator and social worker for the Central American community, helping them to receive food, clothing, and legal assistance (1987-1991). In 1990, Sister Considine visited Catholic schools and Palomar Community College to teach students about Central America. Her encounter with immigrants from northern Guatemala who needed help with their legal papers taught her, “It is better to give somebody a skill or ability than to give them material goods.” She then joined the staff of the Centro de Asuntos Migratorios in San Diego from 1991 to 1995 as an accredited legal worker representing clients before U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services.

In 1995, Sister Considine helped start the SOFIA Immigration Services. Through SOFIA, she advocated for immigrants, educating them about their rights. From 1995 to 2002, Sister Considine served as director of SOFIA Immigration Services and continued her work representing clients, saying, “It is the God experiences that keep me in this work. When you see a person go from despair to hope, that’s a God experience.”

After taking a year to care for her ill parents, Sister Considine moved to Jalisco, Mexico, in 2003, where she served as a youth minister at the parish of La Purísima Concepción for three years. She returned to care for her parents for a short time and then left for San Diego. Until she retired, Sister Considine continued to advocate for immigrants. In 2012, she moved to the Oakwood Retirement Center where she was a beloved member of the community, serving many needs of her sisters and, as she said, “spreading kindness” wherever she could.

On the afternoon of July 24, Sister Considine went to God. Her death was sudden and unexpected and was a shock to her community. Earlier that day, she had attended the Oakwood class on drumming as well as afternoon goûter. Sister Considine is survived by several of her brothers and sisters, numerous nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

A liturgy to celebrate the life of Sister Considine will be held on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. in the Oakwood Chapel followed by a reception.

Memorial contributions may be made in Sister Considine’s memory to the Society of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 958047, St. Louis, MO 63195-8047 or online at https://rscj.org/donate.