April 14, 2023
Sister Margaret Mary Birchmeier OP entered eternal life on April 14, 2023 at the age of 84 after 65 years of religious life. We commend Sister Margaret Mary to your prayers. Evening Prayer with Remembering Service Monday, April 17 at 7:00 pm Chapel of the Word/Marywood Funeral Mass Tuesday, April 18 at 10:00 am Chapel […]
January 29, 2021
Dominican Sisters Margaret Mary Birchmeier and Lillian Bockheim serve as part of the “bridge of love and hope” in one of the poorest communities in South America. They have lived in the community of Chimbote since the 1960s building a ministry that today includes a maternity hospital, pre-natal education, and well-baby clinics. From very humble […]
November 30, 2018
It was 1965, when Sister Margaret Mary and Sister Innocence Andres, both nurses and midwives, arrived in Chimbote, Peru to initiate a child and maternal care program. When they arrived, they found the Maternity Hospital unfinished — one wall and a concrete slab for a floor — so they spent the first year learning about […]
February 23, 2018
This precious little girl, Megan, was born in Maternidad de Maria in Chimbote, Peru this week. She is the 98,000th baby delivered in the maternity hospital the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids helped start more than 50 years ago. Her birth fell during an auspicious week as the community celebrated and blessed a new building. […]