Sister Aline Marie Csc

Sister Aline Marie, CSC
(Ann Barbara Steuer)
December 30, 1932 -November 14, 2024
Entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross from Culver City, California, on September 7, 1951
Initial Profession of Vows on August 15, 1954
Ann Barbara Steuer was born on December 30, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, as the seventh and last child of William Geary Steuer and Mary Virginia (Whelan) Steuer. Barbara's parents were both born and raised in the Midwestern United States. After raising four of Barbara's older siblings in Chicago, Illinois, the family moved to Los Angeles around 1920 to pursue William's career aspirations of training dogs for the film industry. Barbara grew up in Culver City, a town in Los Angeles County known for being the home of several major movie studios at the time. She attended Saint Augustine's Grammar School, Culver City, and Bishop Conaty High School, Los Angeles, where she was introduced to the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Barbara was known for being an outstanding softball and tennis player, and was voted president of the student body during her senior year.
On September 7, 1951, several months after graduating high school, Barbara entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana. Upon reception of the holy habit one year later, she became Sister Aline Marie. Following formation and her first profession of vows in 1954, she taught at Bishop Gorman High School, Las Vegas, Nevada, for three years. She spent a year studying at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, before earning her bachelor's degree in home economics in 1959.
Beginning in 1959, Sister Aline Marie devoted almost 40 years to teaching and ministering in Brazil. After receiving her first assignment to teach at Colégio Santa Maria, São Paulo, Brazil, she wrote to Mother Kathryn Marie (Gibbons), CSC, "I can't tell you how happy I am to receive this privilege." She was a teacher at the school for eight years. Sister Aline Marie described the early years at Colégio Santa Maria as very exciting and creative ones, as she developed the school's curriculum with Sister M. Thomas More, later known as Sister Catherine O'Brien, CSC, who died in 2017. Sister Aline Marie's other assignments in Brazil include being the principal of Colégio Santa Maria, from 1968 to 1976, area superior from 1963 to 1974, and involvement in biblical formation at the Ecumenical Center for Biblical Studies (CEBI), Alagoinhas, Brazil, from 1985 to 1994. At the center, she was a teacher, advisor, and facilitator for a grassroots biblical study movement, traveling throughout Brazil to assist people in understanding and integrating the Bible into their daily lives.
Sister Aline Marie returned to the United States several times to serve in various leadership roles within the Congregation. She chaired the Constitution Committee from 1978 to 1979 and served two terms as general councilor. Her first term was on the general leadership team of Sister Olivia Marie (Hutcheson), CSC, from 1979 to 1984, and her second was on the general leadership team of Sister Catherine O'Brien from 1994 to 1999. After concluding her first term as councilor, she studied for a few years at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois, before earning a master's degree in 1987.
In 1999, Sister Aline Marie was elected to serve a five-year term as president of the Congregation. As a staunch advocate of human rights, Sister Aline Marie was prepared to address the direction set forth in the General Chapter of 1999. She formed a coordinating task force that called on sisters to form theological reflection groups on the themes that emerged from the General Chapter. Her administration solidified Holy Cross as an international congregation committed to justice, nonviolence, and right relationships in the community's life, church, and society. In collaboration with the four Congregations of Holy Cross, the Holy Cross International Justice Office was founded in 2000. The women and men of Holy Cross focused together on global economic justice, ecological sustainability, and the rights of marginalized people. The mission of that office continues in the recent formation of the Holy Cross Justice Collaborative, still involving the three sister congregations and that of the priests and brothers of Holy Cross.
After the conclusion of Sister Aline Marie's term as president and a brief sabbatical, she returned to Brazil in 2005 to continue her ministry in Bible study. She was a facilitator and teacher of scripture for five years, as well as a member of the Congregation's International Justice Committee and Area Council for a year. From 2010 to 2014, she was the Area coordinator for South America. She then coordinated scripture groups in the state of Bahia, Brazil until 2017, when she returned to the United States in failing health. Sister Aline Marie lived in the retirement community at Saint Catherine by the Sea Convent, Ventura, California, for two years, acting as the convent's liaison for justice issues and participating in the local community's book club. In 2019, she transitioned to a ministry of prayer and presence, moving to Saint Mary's, Notre Dame, Indiana. She died at Saint Mary's Convent, Notre Dame, the evening of November 14, 2024. While the colors of the autumn leaves on campus signal the end of the life cycle in the Northern Hemisphere, in her beloved Brazil, it is still spring under the constellation of the Southern Cross. Sister Aline Marie now joins those who shine like bright stars and walk in the way of justice (Daniel 12:3).
Services for Sister Mary will be held on Monday, November 25, 2024 in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto. Visitation begins at 9:30 a.m., with Prayers in the Presence of the Body with memento beginning at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Mass of the Resurrection.
-Written by Madisen Toth, Archivist
Sisters of the Holy Cross Archives and Records
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