Maryknoll Sisters President To Receive Honorary Degree

McLaughlin will receive the degree at the 91st commencement of Albertus Magnus College Sunday, May 18, at Rosary Hall on the campus in New Haven, Conn. McLaughlin is being honored “for her extraordinary service to the mission of the Maryknoll Sisters, for her passionate commitment to the people of Zimbabwe and her support for education,” Roseanne Zudekoff, director of Communications and Community Relations for the college stated in a press release. 

McLaughlin is a magna cum laude graduate of Marquette University with a bachelor's in theology, anthropology and sociology. She holds a master's degree and doctorate  n religious studies from the University of Zimbabwe.

McLaughlin "has coordinated communications efforts for Catholic dioceses in Kenya, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, where her journalistic efforts as Press Information Officer for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in 1977 to unveil injustices then prevalent during the country’s fight for independence, caused the Rhodesian government to briefly imprison her, detaining her without charges under the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act, then deporting her to the United States less than one month later," according to the release. 

“It is indeed a great honor to be recognized by Albertus Magnus College in this way, not only because the college is run by the Dominican Sisters of Peace who taught me all through grade and high school and one year of college before I joined Maryknoll,” McLaughlin said. “But especially because it is the alma mater of my sister, Mary Ellen McLaughlin. I often told her that she was the missionary here at home, protecting the rights of children, while I was the missionary abroad.” 

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