Sister Margaret entered the Medical Mission Sisters over 50 years ago, just after her graduation from Holy Trinity High School in Hackensack, N.J. She has a B.A. in English from Chestnut Hill College; a M.A. in Liturgy from Notre Dame; and a Ph.D. in Christian Origins and Religious Thought from the University of Pennsylvania.

Among her many activities, Sr. Margaret has been a director of novices, university professor, writer, art director, and peace activist. She has a deep interest in the desert spirituality of the Third to Sixth Centuries.

Searching for an abandoned place to live a prayerful, simple life, Sr. Margaret settled in a very poor area of Philadelphia in 1989. There she later founded the New Jerusalem Laura treatment and housing center for recovering drug and alcohol addicts. Over 400 residents completed the program in the past 7 years; 70% of those have stayed clean and sober.

"All the threads of my life have come into play, and found their place in living this expression of my healing mission, especially my great love for teaching Scripture and nonviolence," she says.