Sister Margaret Brault

BURLINGTON - Sister Margaret Brault, RSM, 82, of the Sisters of Mercy Northeast Community, died on July 2, 2014, at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, following a six-year struggle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Sister Margaret was a Religious Sister of Mercy for 65 years.

Sister Margaret (Jeannette Marie Claire Brault) was born in Winooski, Vermont, on Oct. 25, 1931, the daughter of Irene (Viens) and George E. Brault. She was educated at St. Louis Convent/St. Francis Xavier Elementary in Winooski and Mount St. Mary Academy, Burlington. She was a graduate of Trinity College, Burlington, with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She received a Master of Science in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Vermont.

Sister Margaret entered the Sisters of Mercy on Aug. 15, 1949, and made her profession of vows on Aug. 18, 1952. Sister Margaret taught at Cathedral Grammar School, Christ the King in Burlington, Cathedral High and Rice Memorial. She taught in the chemistry department and was also alumni director at Trinity College. Sister Margaret published several times in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In the late 1970s, Sister Margaret's passion for social justice began to surface when her work as a chemist made her increasingly aware of the inequities between women and men in the workplace. Because of this, she became involved in women's issues. Sister Margaret became the director of the Burlington Shelter for Battered Women. In time, she was hired by the religious communities of Syracuse to lead a Peace & Justice Center involved in numerous justice issues. As she became familiar with poverty issues in developing countries, she traveled to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico and Peru to educate herself. As funding for the center disappeared, her ministry moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked for NETWORK, New Ways Ministry, Environmental Action and the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

After returning to Vermont in 1999, Sister Margaret became a founding member and leader in Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA) representing the Sisters of Mercy. Sister Margaret always dreamed of the day when there would be equality and justice for all people and a world without war.

Sister Margaret is survived by her brother, Raymond C. Brault, and his wife, Jackie, of Florida, and her sister, Doris Whalen, of North Carolina; her nieces, Catherine Jackson, Denise Whalen, Margaret McFarlane and her husband, Craig, Patricia Lariviere and her husband, Brian, Regan Garey and her husband, Frank, Brenna Demetree and her husband, Elias, Susan Hartman and her husband, Robert; her nephew, Peter Brault, and his wife, Lauren; several grandnieces and grandnephews; and also by her sisters in religion, the Sisters of Mercy. She was predeceased by her parents, Irene (Viens) and George E. Brault.

A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Saturday, July 5, 2014, in Mount St. Mary Chapel at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Sisters of Mercy in support of their ministerial works, in care of the Local Coordinator, Administrative Office, 100 Mansfield Ave., Burlington, VT 05401.

Arrangements are in the care of the Ready Funeral Home South Chapel, 261 Shelburne Road, Burlington.