Sister M. Maris Csc

Sister M. Maris, CSC
(Evelyn Agnes Bonnett)
August 19, 1928–October 20, 2024
We share news of the death of Sister M. Maris (Bonnett), CSC, who died at 7:58 a.m. on October 20, 2024, in Saint Mary's Convent, Notre Dame, Indiana. Sister Maris entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross from Baltimore, Maryland, on January 24, 1948. Her initial profession of vows took place on August 15, 1950.
Please join us in prayer for Sister as we renew our faith in the resurrected Jesus and strengthen our hope that all the departed will be raised to eternal life.
Sister M. Maris, Evelyn Bonnett, one of four children of William Bonnett and Agnes Urbanski Bonnett, was born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland, where her father owned and managed a restaurant. She is preceded in death by her brother Dick and her sisters Agnes Strickroth and Sister Mary Cabrini, CBS (Sisters of Bon Secours). Evelyn was baptized as a Catholic, the faith of her mother, while her father was a Lutheran. While attending St. Patrick's Grade School, she came to know and love the Sisters of the Holy Cross who staffed the school. She found them friendly, kind and happy. She also developed a strong faith and love for God.
Evelyn's high school years followed at Notre Dame of Maryland, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame. These were years of searching as to how she could best serve God and his people. During her last year in high school, she had an experience of Christ's presence along with the conviction that she should become a Sister of the Holy Cross. Her mother did not favor Evelyn's entrance into religious life, although her father was supportive. She entered the Congregation on January 24, 1948. By the end of her novitiate year, both parents gave their approval of her choice. Six months later, August 15, 1948, she received the holy habit and the religious name Sister M. Maris.
After her initial profession of vows in 1950, her first assignment was as an elementary teacher at Blessed Sacrament School in Washington, D.C. While serving in the parish, she learned about the Legion of Mary, becoming a life-long supporter of the organization in its ministry to the Church and devotion to Mary Immaculate. From 1950 to 1983, she taught elementary education and religion in Catholic parish schools staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and Texas. She took leave for one year from teaching to join with other Holy Cross sisters in staffing a contemplative center in Piney Point, Maryland. The summer months found her busy each year in study or volunteer activities.
She earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Dunbarton College of Holy Cross in Washington, D.C., in 1965; a master's degree in religious education from Manhattan College in New York in 1971; and a second master's degree in pastoral ministry from Boston College in 1990. The summer of 1971 provided her with the opportunity to participate in an overseas trip, the Moreau Trip, made available to Sisters of the Holy Cross by a donor. The trip consisted of a conducted pilgrimage to the Holy Land, France and Italy. Responding to a general invitation to members of the Congregation to visit one of its missions in another country, Sister Maris traveled to Bangladesh for the summer of 1979. During her stay, she taught English and participated in a home visiting program. From July to September 1982, she volunteered with other Holy Cross sisters in work with refugees in Lebanon for Catholic Relief Services.
Sister Maris participated wholeheartedly in community life with prayer, joy and service. She met the challenges she encountered with reliance on God. An opportunity came in the summer of 1978 for her to make a retreat in Vermont at Weston Priory. There she discovered that dance and movement to music, which had always attracted her, could be a means of prayerful praise of God. She had the opportunity the following year to take a course in ballet and, at her pastor's request, did her first liturgical dance for the parish. Many others followed, including for her Golden and Diamond Jubilees.
Responding to a need in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for a director of religious education at Holy Rosary Parish in 1983, Sister Maris went west. While in Idaho Falls, some parish women, aware of her devotion to Mary, generously provided her with the funds to make a pilgrimage to Mary's shrine in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. After five years, she returned to the East and for the next 11 years served in three parishes in Maryland, continuing to be dedicated to religious education at several levels. Her father died soon after her return, and Sister Maris received permission in 1999 to live with and care for her 95-year-old mother. While caring for her mother in Baltimore, she also did volunteer work at her mother's parish.
Following her mother's death in 2007, Sister Maris moved to Saint Angela Hall in Kensington, Maryland. The next eight years, she engaged in religious education in nearby parishes as a volunteer. She retired in 2015, moving to Saint Mary's, Notre Dame, Indiana, in 2016. For several years at the motherhouse, Sister could be seen walking about the campus, no matter the weather. She greeted students on the Saint Mary's College campus and attended their events when able. She was always a welcoming presence in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto. She was strong enough in 2019 to travel to Baltimore for her brother Dick's funeral and a visit there with her sister, Sister Mary Cabrini. Sister Maris died at Saint Mary's Convent soon after dawn on October 20, 2024, following several months of declining health. After a life of loving prayer and service, she now enjoys the fullness of God's kingdom.
Services for Sister M. Maris be held on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, in the Church of Our Lady of Loretto. Prayers in the Presence of the Body with memento begin at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Mass of Resurrection.
Sister Grace Shonk, CSC
Congregational Archives and Records
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Sister M. Maris, CSC (Evelyn Agnes Bonnett), please visit our floral store.