Jane Marie Murray

Jane Marie Murray was born Mary Winifred Murray on March 18, 1896 in the farming community of Freeport, Michigan. The Murray family included her parents, Daniel and Mary, a brother, Ivan and two sisters, Anna and Marion. Mary Winifred was baptized at St. Patrick's Church in Bowne, Michigan. The celebration of the Mass was held every other Sunday, on alternate Sundays the Murray family prayed the rosary. Winifred's father would announce the mysteries and read the meditations for each decade. Daniel Murray was Mary Winifred's first catechist until she made her first confession. She once reminisced " … We would all assemble for the rosary, which my father would lead … These, with my morning and evening prayers were almost my only contacts with religion prior to my first confession, for our distance from the church made it impossible for me to attend the Catechism class held often on Sunday afternoons. I have vivid recollections, however, of learning the lessons of the little Catechism and reciting them to my father". (Murray, "Autobiography for the Grand Rapids Community," p.1)

In September of 1901, Winifred began her academic career, attending the small district school a short distance from her house. She entered St. Andrew's school in September of 1906, attending grades six through eight. By August of 1907, Winifred had lost both her parents. For the next several years she was raised by her uncle, John Murray and his wife, Ella, who already had seven children of their own.

In the autumn of 1908, Winifred, and her sister Marion, entered Holy Rosary Academy. Winifred graduated from the Academy on June of 1913. She spent the next year at Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids, Michigan attending post-graduate classes and tutoring.

Winifred entered the Novitiate of the Dominican Sisters at St. John's Home, Grand Rapids, on September 12, 1914. She received the habit and the name Sister Jane Marie of the Holy Rosary, on April 6, 1915. Murray made her final profession on August 24, 1923.

During this time, she taught high school subjects at Sts. Peter and Paul in Saginaw, and St. Francis in Traverse City, Michigan. She also taught college courses at Sacred Heart Academy (Marywood) in Grand Rapids.

Sometime between the years of 1927 and 1928, Jane Marie began to write for her community. She wrote a brief history and a jubilee hymn as part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the establishment of the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In October of 1928, at a conference at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, Jane Marie had a life-changing experience. At the meeting of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae in the college chapel, she experienced for the first time "the reality of the liturgy as action" (Schwind, Period Pieces , pp.171, 172). That is, it included the active participation of the congregation.

Increasing her excitement, Sr. Jane Donnelly, IHM, another attendee of the conference, introduced Jane Marie to the periodical Orates Fratres . A new liturgical journal founded and edited by Fr. Virgil Michel, OSB, a prominent leader of the liturgical reform movement in the United States.

Back a Marywood, Sr. Jane Marie enthusiastically shared all she had learned at the conference with Sr. Estelle Hackett, who had encouraged Jane Marie to attend. The two "kindred spirits … set about an earnest study of all available issues of Orate Fratres and soon turned the entire faculty of the academy-college into disciples" (Schwind, p.172).

Enthusiasm soon gave way to action. The editors of Orate Fratres asked readers to submit examples of "little meditations" on the liturgy for children. Murray and Hackett asked Mother Eveline Mackey if they might try. Mother Eveline's reply, "Get busy!" sent the two companions off to Collegeville, Minnesota during the Holy Week of 1929 to meet Fr. Virgil Michel. Thus began what Jane Marie would refer to as the "main work of my life … The writing of textbooks of Religion" (Romig, Book of Catholic Authors , Volume Six, pp.274, 275).

The summer after the Holy Week meeting with Fr. Michel, Mother Eveline those sixteen sisters to attend liturgical summer school in Collegeville, Minnesota. Returning to Grand Rapids, Jane Marie, Estelle and fourteen other sisters began to work on a five textbook series entitled, With Mother Church . The series was intended as a supplement to the Baltimore Catechism , the text for Catholic religious education. Each volume was only 90 pages long. It soon became obvious to Murray and Hackett that these little volumes were inadequate for the task. Before With Mother Church was even out of the printer's shop, Jane Marie and Estelle, under the tutelage of Fr. Virgil Michel, began work on the Christ Life series. This collaboration would last nine years.

The successful partnership of Fr. Virgil Michel, Srs.. Jane Marie and Estelle could not have existed without the support of abbot Alcuin Deutsch and Mother Eveline Mackey. Writes Fr. Paul B. Marx, OSB, in his book, Virgil Michel and the Liturgical Movement : Michel's efforts would have been difficult if not impossible without the support of an abbot like Alcuin Deutsch, those Dominican women were encouraged in their pursuits because they were fortunate to have a superior like Eveline Mackey, OP. Under Mackey's leadership, the Dominicans at Marywood caught the liturgical spirit early in the movement's history (Marx, Virgil Michel and the Liturgical Movement , p. 172).

The writing of textbooks was at times stalled due to the frequent illnesses of Michel and Hackett. During these periods Murray wrote alone. Fr. Basil Stegmann, OSB, another liturgical reformer and friend of Michel, served as her consultant. The texts for elementary grades and teachers' manuals were ready for implementation in 1934-35.The premature death of Fr. Michel in the autumn of 1938, deeply affected Jane Marie. Not only had she lost a collaborator, but a dear friend. His death also delayed the plan to publish a textbook series for high school students. The first volume entitled, The Life of Our Lord , was ready for a classroom trial run in 1938. It was published in 1942. Living in Christ , the second volume, was based on the liturgical year and was published around 1946. The two volumes written by Fr. Michel were judged to be more appropriate for college-level study. With the death of Sr. Estelle Hackett in 1948, Jane Marie completed the project with the help of a team of consultants. The Christ Life Series was finally ready for publication in 1950.

While working on Christ life Series and teaching high school religious and English classes, Jane Marie found time to pursue a degree in Medieval Studies. She enrolled in the Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto in 1938, taking one class. Her teaching and writing responsibilities came first. A variety of other interruptions kept her from completing the usual three year program until June of 1950. Jane Marie graduated magna cum lauda , and was the first woman to receive a licentiate in theology from the Institute.

Jane Marie's course of study at the Institute was based on the Summa Theological of St. Thomas Aquinas . This gave birth to an idea. Why not develop a course of study for high schoolers based on a simplified text of the Summa ? "I became convinced that the magnificent order of his exposition of sacred doctrine held advantages for high-school students as well as specialists in universities" (Murray, Autobiography , p. 5).

Work on the " Summa textbook" began in 1951. Monsignor William J. Murphy, diocesan superintendent of schools and principal of Catholic Central High School of Grand Rapids, supported her in this pursuit. He wanted a temporary form of the text as soon as possible for students at Catholic Central. Eventually these texts became part of the Christ Life Series .

By January of 1956 work on the Summa progressed far enough to begin looking for a publisher. At the same time, Fr. Thomas Carroll of Boston, a representative for the Liturgical Conference, asked Jane Marie to write an instructional booklet of the newly restored Holy Week liturgy for high school students. Vincent Giesse of Fides Publishers, Chicago, agreed to publish the booklet and suggested one be written for grade school students too. This would, of course, mean two teachers' manuals as well. All of this was to be ready for classroom use by early March, as Easter Sunday fell on April 1 in 1956. It was already mid-January!

Jane Marie's textbook writing continued into the 1960's. She also wrote articles for various liturgical and catechetical periodicals. She lectured at Notre Dame and Marquette Universities. She was a guest professor at Catholic University of America and was associated with the Aquinas College Institute of Religious Studies from 1965-1975. Adding to her growing list of activities, Jane Marie was a member of the board of the National Liturgical Conference, a charter member of the Society of College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine and an associate member of the Catholic Biblical Association.

In her home diocese, Murray was an active member of the committee of Science of Liturgy for the Liturgical Commission of the Diocese of Grand Rapids (1964-1969). The purpose of the commission was to be a "study and advising group that seeks to guide and promote, under the direction of the Bishop, the proper execution of all matters pertaining to divine worship, in the diocese of Grand Rapids" (Quaderer, Report for the Liturgical Commission of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan , p.1).

The commission was assigned to help local parishes implement the ideas and spirit of the Second Vatican Council. There were sub-committees in architecture, music, and liturgical art. Each committee was mad up of six to ten members including clergy, vowed religious and laity.

Jane Marie's contribution to the liturgical commission was recognized by the new diocesan liturgical commission in 1981. Murray received the first annual "Alleluia Award."

While still teaching, writing, working on liturgical reform, and helping in the development of a pastoral ministry program at Aquinas College, Jane Marie responded generously to another call. A prison inmate from California read one of Jane Marie's volumes of the Christ Life Series he found in the prison library. He wrote her requesting more information. A correspondence began, books were sent and Jane Marie became an active member of the prison ministry and correctional reform in Grand Rapids.

Jane Marie developed a plan to educate Grand Rapid citizens "on the inequities in the criminal system" (Kramer, Grand Rapids Press , April 8, 1975). She developed a plan on the necessity for and the training of jail ministers. In this plan, one again sees the driving force in Jane Marie's life. to be a "true" Christian, one must live out his life in serving others, nurtured by "prayer and Eucharistic celebrations. [They] are not options in Christian Ministry. They are not 'pious' additions to it. The ministry is rooted in the faith" (Murray, Proposal for Jail Ministry Education , p. 3).

Jane Marie finally retired from academic life at the age of 78 in 1975. That same year she was awarded the Thomas Aquinas Medal in Catechetics from the Dominican Fathers' Pontifical Institute in Washington, D.C. This award marked the occasion of the institute's 70th anniversary and to honor an outstanding woman in the International Women's Year. This one-time only award was presented to Jane Marie on September 14, 1975 at the Dominican House in Washington D.C.

Sr. Jane Marie Murray may have retired from public life but she was definitely not "retiring." In an article written for Rapport magazine commemorating her 75th birthday she wrote:

"A funny thing happened to me on the way to my seventy-fifth birthday. I was going along as usual … when, all at once it happened. Clear and sharp the realization came. I am old! Not just older … but old … It is not merely a negative condition, not just a decline in powers … There is a "new thing" that awaits one who is old … this "new thing" lies in the positive loving acceptance of each experience of declining powers as a special sharing in the saving work of Christ." (Oosdyke, Homily for the Resurrection Mass , p. 4 )

Sr. Jane Marie Murray died in peace on July 22, 1987, at the age of 91. She dedicated her life to helping others understand their call as true disciples of Christ. Supported by prayer, Eucharistic celebration, and integrative teaching methods for religious education, Jane Marie illuminated the way for countless young Catholic Christians to not only live for Christ, but live intimately with Christ, carrying out his mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God.

At the Mass of Resurrection, Sr. Mary Kay Oosdyke describes Jane Marie as a woman of vision and action.

"Our lives have greater sense of mystery, of resurrected life because of the vision she shared, the spirit she engendered, the invitations she offered whether to the Order or to a lecture or conference … Our lives have a greater sense of the Kingdom of God because of the zeal she had for religious, political, and social concerns. Even feminism did not come too late it enjoy her enthusiasm and support. There is no doubt about it. Jane Marie was a woman of faith and vision. And she was committed to sharing the vision." (Oosdyke, p. 5)

The textbooks Jane Marie wrote were intended as supplements to the Baltimore Catechism . Her "series of supplemental books [were] designed to involve students actively in the liturgy … [Her work] was recognized as launching a new stage in religious education by leaving the catechism genre and rediscovering the doctrinal, educational, and foundational riches for the liturgical style" ( The New Catholic Encyclopedia , p.993).

In an article for the April 1938 issue of Journal of Religious Instruction , Jane Marie wrote, "It is not enough that we know the Truth: we must do the truth in charity. It is not enough for Catholic boys and girls to know their sublime vocation to life in Christ; they must endeavor to live according to this vocation" (Murray, "Guiding Children in the Celebration of the Paschal Season," Journal of Religious Instruction , 1933, Nov. p. 678)

Of the Christ Life Series , she wrote:

"[The] intention has been to present Catholic dogma, morals and worship on the successive grade levels … to contribute to a gradual but sure growth on the part of Catholic young people … growth in their knowledge and love and service to God, in their devotion to the Church, and in their readiness to take their places in society as mature persons and Christians … Such deepened life in Christ will show itself in generous apostolic action." (Murray, "Going to God," The Christ Life Series , p. 14)

The Christ Life Series for high school students, published in 1958, was divided into four volumes. Each textbook for a particular grade level. Volume one, Going to God , was organized around the liturgical year. "The approach is experiential, directed not merely to knowledge of the Christian mysteries, but also to an intelligent and active participation in them as the Church celebrates them through the course of her year" (Murray, "Going to God," pp.12, 13).

Volume two, God and His People , was based on Scared Scripture, both new and old Testaments. This volume hope to increase the student's knowledge of God "which would find its expression in the Student's more mature worship of God. A certain consequence of this Growth … will be the student's growth in personality, in self-realization." This volume also stressed a more "intimate participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass" (Murray, "Going to God," p.14)

Volume three, Growth In His Likeness , was based on the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas .

"It [was devoted] to the study of free human action on the natural and supernatural levels. Through the study of the nature and dignity of human action, of habits, passions, virtue, sin, the law, the life of grace, and of each of the individual virtues, Growth in His Likeness [acquainted] the student with his own nature and powers as man and as Christian and [motivated] him for truly Christian action." (Murray, "Going to God," p.14)

Volume four, The Catholic in Today's World , was based on Part Three of the Summa ,this volume took a scientific, theological approach. It completed the "theological synthesis of Christian doctrine" in the series. Its purpose was to form in the minds of high school students a knowledge of Christ, of the Church and the sacraments.

"The objective is to acquaint Catholic young men and women in the social realities in today's world, to awaken them to a consciousness of the social responsibilities, and to arouse their consciences to face and accept these responsibilities as they recognize them in the present environment." (Murray, "Going to God," p. 9)

In most of her textbooks, Jane Marie included secular historical and scientific information which corresponded to the lesson. Also included were illustrations, copies of masterworks in painting sculpture, architecture, nature photography and beautifully crafted handiwork. Each unit lesson ended with factual chapter questions, reflection and application questions. Suggestions were offered for living out the lesson learned, under the heading "Laboratory for the Apostolic Life." The lesson unit usually end with a prayer.

In Going to God , under the heading "for Apostolic Life," the following is stated, "Christ comes to us in Holy Communion in order to be given to others - not just to stay with us. How can we in our student life share Christ with others? in the classroom? Outside the classroom?" (Murray, "Going To God," p. 9)

In bringing together the arts, sciences, life experiences with the study of faith and celebration of the liturgy, Sr. Jane Marie believed the high school students would choose "a way of dedicating himself to God … eager for action … not planned and directed by another, but that which he, himself initiates, undertakes, and carries through" (Murray, "Going to God," p. 73).

"It is of maximum importance that our young people learn to act independently as Christians and to take responsibility of their actions. It is not enough that they know God for them. It is not enough, even that they love Him. It is necessary that they proceed to live in it, and life for man entails free and responsible actions." (Murray, "Going to God," p. 20)

Jane Marie had some very definite ideas on the "art of teaching," and the qualities of a good teacher.

"For the teacher is working on the living active material of the human person. And the child, rather than the teacher, is the chief agent in the learning process … It is absolutely imperative that the teacher of religion be terribly alive - vibrating and alert in mind, heart, imagination, sense of appreciation, and in all his faculties, in their due order. Everything is grist for his mill. All departments in the curriculum, in life, are his. Religion alone has right of eminent domain." (Murray, "Going to God," p. 22)

"It is in meeting the various types [of students] the teacher needs to adapt his approach - emphasizing the intellectual with one, the affective with another, immediate programs of action with another … Here is the challenge to the teacher of religion in high school." (Murray, "Going to God," p.22)

Although Jane Marie prepared well-rounded lesson plans for each unit of study, she believed it was of utmost importance that the teacher be enthusiastic, and spontaneous. He should be able to adapt the lesson to the students' needs. Jane Marie cautioned against mindless following of any on teaching method.

"The deadly thing about specifying a particular pedagogical method for presenting a lesson in Christian doctrine is that the studied application of a method can be so totally dead. A teacher may follow the specified steps faithfully, the students may to their part … application may be made to present living - all this may take place without there having been a spark of life or fire in the teacher or student." (Murray, "Going to God," p. 13)

Sr. Jane Marie Murray's life and work was dedicated to educating young people to the connection liturgical celebration with the whole of life. she wanted them to understand that there was (and is) no separation between the secular and spiritual lives of people. After every celebration of the Mass, each Catholic Christian is commissioned to "go forth and serve the Lord," fully live out his particular call in life. To this end Sr. Jane Marie Murray dedicated her life. Her work, inspired by Fr. Virgil Michel, and aided by Sr. Estelle Hackett and many others was a ground breaking achievement.

Works Cited

• Kramer, M. (1975, April 8). Grand Rapids Press .
• Marx, P. B. (1957). Virgil Michel and the Liturgical Movement . St. Paul: The Liturgical Press
• Murray, J. M., OP. (1933). Autobiography for Grand Rapids community . Unpublished manuscript.
• Murray, J. M., OP. (1958). Going to God. The Christ Life Series . Chicago: Fides Publishers Association.
• Murray, J. M., OP. (1971). Proposal for jail ministry education . Unpublished manuscript.
• Oosdyke, M. K., OP. (1984, July 25). Homily for the resurrection mass . Dominican Chapel, Marywood, Grand Rapids: Unpublished manuscript.
• Quaderer, E. L. (1967, May). Report for: The liturgical commission of the diocese of Grand Rapids . Unpublished manuscript.
• Romig, W. (Ed.). (1960). Book of Catholic authors (Vol. 6). Grosse Pointe: Walter Romig Publisher.
• Schwind, M., OP. (1991). Period pieces: An account of the Grand Rapids Dominicans, 1853-1966 . Grand Rapids: West Michigan Printing.