The Sisters In Action Fund was created by Dr. Martha Casas in memory of her beloved Aunt, Sister Antonia de Maria, SSHJP. Sister Antonia de Maria was a sister of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Poor; an order that has been serving in El Paso since 1920. Founded in 1888, the mission of the Servants is to express the mercy and love of Christ in all their works in orphanages, schools, hospitals, and all their other ministries.

As a young girl, Dr. Casas was enrolled in a Catholic elementary school in southern California during the 1960s and felt blessed to have been taught by a religious sister at every grade level. “It was the sisters that I believe impacted my life the most. In addition to providing religious instruction, the sisters delivered a challenging and enriching curriculum that afforded me a solid foundation in academics and helped me to develop a level of mental and emotional self-discipline that would enable and sustain me in completing a doctoral dissertation many years later” said Dr. Casas. “What better way to express my gratitude to our Catholic sisters as the result of a life-long respect and admiration for Catholic nuns than by creating an endowment in memory of my beloved Aunt that would help them financially to assist them in the performance of their ministries”?

The Endowment was established to support the Religious Sisters of all congregations doing the Lord’s work in the Diocese of El Paso. Through the distributions of the Sisters in Action Fund, Sisters can use the funds to enrich their own lives spiritually, attend retreats, workshops, and classes, purchase personal items, and also help them to gain additional knowledge about their ministries so that their work will become even more meaningful and beneficial to them but also to the El Paso community.

You can contribute to the Sisters in Action Fund for Sisters serving in the Diocese of El Paso in any amount or create a Named Fund with a gift of $10,000 or more. There is no minimum requirement to contribute to an existing endowed fund. Gifts of any size are welcome and are beneficial to the lives of the Religious Sisters’ mission. For more information, please contact Major Gifts Officer, Tony Herrera at (915) 872-8412 or at therrera@catholicfoundationelpaso.org.