Remembrance of the Life of Sister Rosemary Chinnici SL

Rosemary Chinnici wrote much of her own story in documents now in the Loretto Archives.  In her own words, then, we follow her life:

“I was born in Altadena, Calif., in 1942, March to be exact.  I grew up in a family which was very close.  My father, Gregory, was a construction engineer — an occupation of which we were all quite proud.  He did not have a great deal of formal education, and it was always clear to us that the long hours he worked were intended to provide so that his children would be able to become as well educated as possible. Hopefully part of his care and concern for others lives on in me.

“My mother Lucile was a homemaker, who also took great pride in her work.  She was a voracious reader, encouraging all of us to read.  It was from my mother that I learned an appreciation of literature, history and poetry.

“I have three brothers, Nicholas, 10 years older; Peter, 5 years older; and Joe 3 years younger. [A baby sister, Catherine Claire, died soon after birth – a traumatic experience for Rosemary and the whole family.] We grew up in Monrovia where I attended Immaculate Conception School with the Loretto Sisters and Bishop Diego High School in Santa Barbara with the BVMs. 

“I graduated from Loretto Height College and from the University of Northern Colorado [with an MA in counseling and psychology].  I worked as a teacher for three years at Cathedral High School in Denver and as a rehabilitation counselor at Fort Logan Mental Health Center.  This last experience taught me [to] appreciate people who are somewhat ostracized by society, [and inclined me to] spend the rest of my life trying to find these people and perhaps align myself with them.  

“[Beginning] September 1960, I was a postulant in the Loretto novitiate. I left Loretto [after five months], hoping that both the structures and I would change.  Both did. And after 10 years I rejoined the Community in 1971.  During my first year I lived with Sister Rose Annette in Denver – she taught me much about living in joy and gratitude.  September 1972, I went to the Motherhouse for my canonical year and was assigned Sister Rose Alma as my novice mistress. 

“On one occasion during a Community meeting – there were 10 of us living in the Novitiate building at the time – Rose Alma brought up the subject of buying a small camping trailer that would be shared.  Eight of the 10 members of the Community thought it was a wonderful idea; two of us [young ones] voted ‘no’ – no doubt afflicted with our first fervor about poverty!  As the Community had agreed that the vote had to be unanimous, the trailer was not purchased.  That night Rose Alma came to my room and said ‘community life consists in understanding that not everyone needs the same thing. The mistake religious made before Vatican II was that we tried to have everyone fit into the same mold and this caused great harm and pain. We are now learning to live in tension and be respectful of others’ needs.’ Rose Alma was then and continued to be for the rest of her years a wonderful mentor and dear friend.”

Rosemary stayed on in Kentucky for one more year after her first vows in 1973, working for the Springfield, Ky., schools as a special omnibus teacher and counselor.  Her task was to assure that integration practices worked smoothly and well for black students. She then went on to study, briefly at Notre Dame, then at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, hoping to weave her interests in psychology and in theology into an integrated whole. 

Completing a doctorate in 1980, Rosemary joined her brother Joe on the faculty of the Franciscan School of Theology, serving as Professor of Pastoral Theology and counselor for the student body.  In 1998 she accepted a position at the Starr King School for the Ministry, an Oakland-based seminary founded by the Universalist Unitarians to educate leaders for progressive religious communities. At her retirement in 2006 Rosemary had taught graduate courses, workshops and retreats in several schools and for many communities across the United States.

Rosemary’s doctorate prepared her to serve as a trauma and disaster counselor and as a teacher. She was a disaster consultant for FEMA. She worked for restorative justice for victims and served in the public defender’s office as a defense advocate, representing families and victims of violence and murder. After Rosemary retired, she traveled more frequently to serve in disaster areas and as defense advocate. In 2011 she counseled the victims of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Ariz., when Rep. Gabby Giffords and 18 others were assaulted in a shopping center parking lot.

Rosemary also traveled for Loretto, going to China three times to meet with Loretto Sister Isobel Huang. In 1995 she and Sister Anthony Mary visited with Isobel, helping to arrange Isobel’s trip to the US later that year. Rosemary returned to China with her friend Mary Grove in 1996 and again with Anthony Mary and PJ Manion in 1998 to check on Isobel’s health, safety and living situation. These visits are thoroughly documented by lengthy and detailed reports Rosemary wrote to Loretto’s President Mary Ann Coyle. She concludes her last report with these thoughts: “Of my three visits to Isobel in China this was the most satisfying. I now have a general overall sense [that] she has the emotional, spiritual, personal, physical and financial support that are helpful to her. While her life is still difficult, there are people who care for her, and it is a relief to know this. [Before we left, Isobel told us] ‘If I stay in China, I keep the Loretto name here. I am the Loretto presence.  If I go, Loretto will be gone, finished in China.'”  

Rosemary delivered the homily at the funeral Mass, when Isobel’s earthly remains came to Loretto to be buried as she had wished. Rosemary said, “Isobel was the Good Samaritan to us, the woman who, because of her willingness to remain faithful to Loretto, offered us her love, humor, compassion and generosity when we were in need. … Through her faithfulness to us, even through all those silent and lost years, she teaches us about commitment.”

Through the years, Rosemary enjoyed the companionship of many Loretto women in California, and for a time she lived with her good friend Anita Caspary of the IHMs. Her close friend and household companion, however, has been Mary Grove.  Rosemary and Mary made a home and a family for Mary’s foster daughter Mae, with Mae’s children and with a succession of well-loved cats and dogs. 

In a 1989 summary of her life, Rosemary wrote about death: “The most impressive experiences I have had in Loretto were participating in Francine Lum’s death … and with the dying Sisters at the Motherhouse. … It became clear to me how [each of these sisters] had grown beyond her body, and that it could no longer contain her or her Spirit.”

And so it is with Rosemary.

Sister Rosemary died Aug. 20 at Loretto Living Center on the grounds of the Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx, Ky., in the company of her brother and friends. She was 82 and in the 52nd year of her life as a Sister of Loretto. May she now rest in eternal peace. Please keep Rosemary, her family and all her loved ones in your prayers.

Preceding Rosemary in death were her parents, Lucille (Rogers) and Gregory F. Chinnici; her brother, Nicholas G. Chinnici, and sister, Catherine Claire Chinnici. She is survived by two brothers, the Rev. Joseph P. Chinnici OFM of San Diego, and Peter J. Chinnici of Arcadia, Calif.; her niece, Cathleen Enriquez of Salinas, Calif; and Rosemary’s longtime friend Mary Grove of Mill Valley Calif., and Mary’s daughter, Mei Yuk Kung of Murrieta, Calif.

Sister Rosemary’s funeral Mass took place Aug. 23 in the Motherhouse chapel. Father Chinnici, Rosemary’s brother, celebrated the Mass. Burial immediately followed at Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery at Loretto Motherhouse.