Sister Christine LaTulippe, 20-year medical missioner to PH, dies at 84

Maryknoll Sister Christine LaTulippe 1930-2015. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MARYKNOLL, New York — Sister M. Christine LaTulippe, MM, a medical missioner in the Philippines for 20 years, died January 21 at Maryknoll Sisters Home Care IV. She was 84 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 55 years.

Sister Christine was born on May 10, 1930, to Lewis B. and Sadie LaRochelle LaTulippe in Colchester, Vermont. She was one of 13 children born to the couple.

Sister Christine was born on May 10, 1930, to Lewis B. and Sadie LaRochelle LaTulippe in Colchester, Vermont. She was one of 13 children born to the couple.

A 1948 graduate of Salem Central High School, Salem, New York, she became a registered nurse following completion of her studies at Mercy Hospital, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1952. She then worked at Albany Hospital, Albany, New York, from 1952-1957 and the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, from 1957 until her decision to enter Maryknoll Sisters in 1959.

Sister Christine entered Maryknoll on September 2, 1959 from Holy Cross Parish, Salem, New York, and made her First Profession of Vows on June 24, 1962, at the congregation’s novitiate in Topsfield, Massachusetts and her Final Vows on June 24, 1969 in the Philippines.

Following completion of an associates degree at Maryknoll Teachers College, Maryknoll, NY, in 1963, she applied her nursing skills at Bethany House, the Maryknoll Sisters residence for elderly and infirm Sisters in Ossining, NY, from 1963-1964. She then attended Salve Regina College, Newport, RI, where she completed her B.S. in nursing in 1965.

Sister Christine was then sent to the Philippines, where she would spend a total of 20 years in ministry. She first worked as a nurse in St. Joseph’s Hospital for sugar cane workers in Manapla, Negros Occidental, from 1965-1968. After a brief period at Maryknoll College, Manila, Sister Christine was sent to Malabon, where she served for two years, working at Philippine General Hospital, helping to set up a new parish center, St. James, and running an adult education clinic.

In 1970, she returned to the United States, where she provided nursing service in the Maryknoll Sisters infirmary, Maryknoll, from 1970-1972. While there, she felt a growing desire to be involved in pastoral ministry, which led her to earning a pastoral associate certificate from Catholic Chaplains Association, Washington, DC, in 1973. She then worked in pastoral care at St. John’s Hospital, Springfield, Illinois, from 1974-1975, at ABBA Community, Albany, , doing youth retreats for its House of Prayer in 1975.

At the end of 1975, Sister Christine returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center near Ossining, New York, where she served as a nurse to residents there until 1979.

Sensing a renewed call to the Philippines, she engaged in language study and a “reinsertion program” offered by the Manila and Infanta Prelature in the Philippines from 1979-1980. She then worked at a refugee center in Bataan, where she prepared Vietnamese refugees for immigration to the United States by acquainting them with U.S. culture, from 1981-1982. She then worked with Urban Missionaries Exposure in Manila in 1983, and in promotion for the Church Peoples Rights Team, also in Manila in 1984.

In 1985, Sister Christine returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center where she worked in the pharmacy until 1987, when she returned to the Philippines, serving in various capacities until 1988. She then returned, once again, to the Center, where she worked in reception from 1988-1990, in promotion for the Development Department from 1992-1993, and in various support services from 1994-2008. She also was a hospice worker at Phelps Memorial Hospital, Sleepy Hollow, NewYork, as well as a pastoral volunteer at Westchester County Medical Center, Valhalla, New York, from 2000 to 2004.

She is survived by her brother, George LaTulippe of Plattsburgh, New Yorjk; two sisters, Mrs. Mary Logan of Stamford, Connecticut, and Mrs. Nancy Lemery of Micro, North Carolina and other relatives.

A vespers service will be held for Sister Christine on Tuesday, January 27at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, New York. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will take place on Wednesday, January 28, at 11 a.m. in the same location. Interment will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at the Center.