Sr. Sarah Fahy

Sister Sarah Fahy, SNDdeN, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur died on August 19, 2025 at Mt. Notre Dame Health Care Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Sarah was born in Santa Fe, Mexico on July 19, 1932 and was raised in Washington, DC where she graduated from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School and Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University). She is predeceased by her parents, the Hon. Charles Fahy and Mary Agnes Lane and by two of her three siblings, Agnes Fahy Johnson and Rev. Thomas Fahy, O.S.B.

After graduating from Trinity in 1953 Sister Sarah joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and taught high school Religion and English in schools staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She then studied Scripture and Liturgy at Regina Mundi Pontifical Institute in Rome, Italy in preparation for her teaching Scripture to the young women who had recently joined the Congregation. She received a Masters Degree from the Catholic University of America in Religious Studies and her Ph.D in Religion at Temple University where she specialized in American Religion and Social Ethics. Sister Sarah did her graduate work during the conjunction of the Civil Rights Movement with the Viet Nam War and for the next 40 years she provided a theological context for addressing her growing concerns about the existence of militarism, racism and poverty. Throughout her 60 years of ministry Sister Sarah would serve as a prophetic voice for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur always rooting her activism in a theological context.

In response to these concerns in 1975 she founded the Julie Community Center in Southeast Baltimore as a People’s Rights organization. Fifty years later the Julie Community Center continues to serve the residents of the neighborhood through advocacy and educational programs for adults and children. In 1985 she moved from community organizing to become a staff member of the Mission Education Center, the communications office for the Congregation, a position which enabled her to report on the Congregation’s presence on five continents and led to her appointment as the Justice and Peace Coordinator for the Congregation. In the next step on her journey she co-founded the New Hope Center in Burnsville, North Carolina to provide services for all forms of addiction. She is survived by her sister, Anne Sheehan; her niece, Margaret McCaleb and nephews and nieces.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 A.M. on Friday, August 29 in the Chapel at Mt. Notre Dame in Cincinnati. (live stream https:://youtube.com/live/TBPTRuaz60o?feature=share). A Maryland Prayer Service will celebrate Sarah’s life on September 5 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 4795 Ilchester Road. Ellicott City, MD. at 10:30 A.M. (live stream olphparish.org/broadcast/). Burial will follow the prayer service at the Sisters Cemetery, Ilchester. Donations for the Retirement Fund of the Sisters of Notre Dame Base Communities may be made in Sister Sarah’s name to the Development Office, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Base Communities, 125 Michigan Ave., NE, Washington, DC, 20017.