As the Church celebrates Catholic Sisters Week, Sister Anne Denise Brennan, SC of the Sisters of Charity reflects on decades of teaching and ministry across the Archdiocese of New York.

From the classrooms of Blessed Sacrament School in Staten Island to the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, Sister Anne Denise has spent a lifetime forming students in both faith and knowledge. Among the many young people she taught was future Auxiliary Bishop Edmund Whalen.

Throughout her years in education, she says the formation of young people went far beyond the classroom.

“The parish itself was a very faith filled parish,” she recalls of her early years teaching. “The formation of the children was not just what they got in school. They also got it at home.”

Her ministry also took her to the South Bronx during the difficult years of the 1970s, when fires devastated many neighborhoods. Working with other religious communities in an experimental school program at Saint Anthony of Padua, she witnessed firsthand the challenges facing families in the area.

“That experience was really transforming for me,” she says.

Later, Sister Anne Denise taught for 18 years at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, where she often drew on those earlier experiences to better understand and encourage her students.

“I have said many times I would have been a very different person teaching at the college had I not had those experiences on the street,” she said.

Over the years she has remained in contact with many former students, continuing to offer encouragement and prayer long after they left her classroom.

As Catholic Sisters Week highlights the contributions of women religious around the world, Sister Anne Denise says even small acts of kindness can make a lasting difference.

“It’s the little things that we can do for one another,” she said. “Recognizing people, calling them by name, greeting them, smiling. It may seem like nothing, but I think that’s really a great call for all of us.”