September 2, 2026

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

While living her vocation involved spending 43 years in South America, Sister Cindy Sullivan, a sister with the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), is preparing to leave Massena and the Diocese of Ogdensburg, where she grew up and where she has lived for nearly 10 years, on Sept. 12.

Sister Cindy will be moving to a residence at the mother house of the BVM community in Dubuque, Iowa, where she and her mother will live.

“I’m originally from Massena; I was born in Massena,” Sister Cindy said. “I lived and worked in South America – in Ecuador – for 43 years, and I came back when my dad got sick in 2017 to help care for my dad and mom. Dad died in January. Mom is ready to get out of the house. There are too many memories there.”

The BVM community, in partnership with Presbyterian Homes & Services, offers community living to the sisters and area residents in two assisted living facilities, senior living apartments and a new memory care unit.

“Mom will be living with me in senior housing,” Sister Cindy said. “It’s right on a bluff of the Mississippi River. I’m going from one river, the St. Lawrence, to another. There’s the original mother house, and an atrium connects that old part with the new. It’s very nice.”

Sister Cindy said she has “mixed emotions” about the move.

“Mom has never not lived in Massena,” she said. “She’s 96. All her friends are gone. She frequently tells me ‘everyone who was in my wedding is gone.’ Being here in Massena has been just great. Bishop Terry (R. LaValley) has been great to work with. I was first on the Mission Board for two terms, and now I’m on the Diocesan Pastoral Council. It’s been fun working with and getting to know people from other parishes. And I’ll miss this community. I know a lot of people here. I’m a substitute bridge player and a golfer, and I was teaching kids on Sundays for a long time. Father Mark (Reilly, pastor of St. Peter’s parish in Massena) and everyone here have been welcoming.”

Father Reilly noted that Sister Cindy has been serving the community in “quiet but competent ways” since she started living there in 2017.

“She’s had her hands in a lot of things,” he said. “From helping out with formation, parish programs and Super Sunday breakfasts to Meals on Wheels, she’s been there serving.”

Sister Cindy served as the director of Meals on Wheels in Massena from 2017 to 2024.

“When I first came back here from Ecuador, I was translating in the prisons,” she said. “When the (Spanish speaking) prisoners would go for hearings, I would be their translator. The handlers I was working with moved out of state. Before that job went away, Meals on Wheels was looking for someone. I thought ‘I could do that.’ When I ran the center in Ecuador, we served 2,000 people. Feeding 100 felt like a piece of cake.”

Sister Cindy said her time with Meals on Wheels was “a perfect ministry.”

“I got to meet some of the most vulnerable people in our community and their families,” she said. “In Ecuador, I dealt with entire families but not many seniors. So, it was nice dealing with a population I had never served before.”

Even as she served Meals on Wheels, she continued to raise funds for the Center for Working Families, formerly the Working Boys’ Center, in Quito, Ecuador, the place where she originally became acquainted with the BVM community.

“I went down originally with the Peace Corps,” she said. “I was a dental hygienist. They didn’t know what that was in Ecuador. Originally, there were four of us – dental hygienists – who went down. Two went home the first week. They decided it wasn’t for them. Two of us stayed on. When we first got there, the people in charge of our program weren’t there. We were told to ‘find something to do.’ Another volunteer who was working at the (Working Boys’) Center took me with her to build houses. I spent Sundays working with a family making bricks. We were working mud into tar with our feet and getting the stones out, then mixing in straw and forming it into bricks. It was great! The center was great! The first day I walked in, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. We were working with kids who were working as shoe-shine kids by age 5. They were tough kids, but great kids.”

Joining the Peace Corps and ending up in Ecuador was not part of Sister Cindy’s original plans.

“I thought I was going to be a professional golfer,” she said. “I had a natural swing. I moved to California, and I was working as a hygienist and working with a professional golfer, who was teaching me. I got to where I didn’t want to work at playing golf and work. I had a friend from home who was off in Zaire with the Peace Corps. That sounded interesting. So, when I signed up for the Peace Corps, I said I wanted to go to Africa. Instead, I ended up in Ecuador. I turned 21 in Ecuador.”

The Center for Working Families/Working Boys’ Center was founded by a Jesuit priest, Father John Halligan, in 1964. In 1967, after Father Halligan put out a call for assistance, Madre Miguel Conway, BVM, joined him in running the center.

“When I first applied to the BVMs, they pointed out that they weren’t really a missionary community,” Sister Cindy said. “I figured God wouldn’t have taken me halfway around the world to meet the BVMs if that wasn’t where he wanted me.”

After completing her formation in the United States with the BVMs, she asked to return to Ecuador. Her request was granted, and she served there for over 40 years.

“I’d love to go back at some point,” she said. “It’s different now, though. When I was there, we could go anywhere we wanted without fear. We always felt safe. Now, with all the Narco Trafficante (gangs connected to narcotics trafficking) taking over everything, it’s not safe to go out without someone accompanying.”

Until then, she looks forward to spending time living with her sisters in community.

“It’ll be nice going back to the community, being back in contact with our sisters,” she said.