File 167 - Writings/Speeches – Sisters of Service

Born 21 June 1911 in Montreal; daughter of William Zink and Margaret Moore; entered 21 January 1938; first vows 15 August 1940; final vows 15 August 1946; died 25 October 1992.

A Montréaler, Ella, an only child after death of an infant brother, grew up in the city's English-speaking parishes of St. Ann's and St. Gabriel's. She studied at St. Ann’s Academy, Villa Maria Convent and Marguerite Bourgeoys College before training as a nurse at St. Vincent de Paul Hospital in Brockville, Ontario. A singer, Ella appeared regularly on local radio broadcasts, both while a teenager and later as a young nurse. For three years, she worked as a public health nurse with the Montreal department of health. At 26, she entered the Sisters of Service, professing first vows on August 15, 1940 and final vows on August 15, 1946.

For the first 15 years of mission appointments, she nursed at the two rural Alberta hospitals of St. John’s hospital in Edson (1939-1941; 1946-1949) and Our Lady’s Hospital in Vilna (1941-1946; acting superior 1951; superior 1952-1954).

Remaining at the Motherhouse after the Chapter in 1954, she enrolled at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, studying photography for future assignments. When appointed as editor of The Field at Home (1955-1974), she also embarked on a career in religious promotional work, primarily for the Sisters of Service. During five summers of study, she earned a masters of arts degree in journalism and theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later, she studied philosophy of social communications at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. As editor, she documented the changes of the community through the 1950s and the 1960s, presenting illustrated articles of the founding and early missions. In the magazine, she emphasized individual sisters through their own words or Sister Zink’s profiles to celebrate jubilees and to memorialize after death. Special issues were devoted to vocations, Chapter deliberations and the contributions during the 1967 Canadian centennial. At the same, Sister Zink travelled to parishes, giving illustrated slides of the sisters’ missions to promote interest in vocations.

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the consequential changes for religious life, Sister Zink joined the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) in Ottawa, (1965-1968), as a member of the permanent secretariat office and later assistant general secretary. Remaining in Ottawa, Sister Zink was the first woman director of public relations of English sector (1968-1973) for Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCB). In that capacity, she attended some of the synods of the bishops in Rome.

Continuing in public relations, Sister Zink returned to the hospital field as assistant executive director for public relations and publications (1973-1975) of the Catholic Hospital Association. She was employed by a non-religious organization as public relations director (1975-1980) of the YM-YWCA. During those years (1965-1981) in Ottawa, she also assisted other organizations, including as a member of the publicity committee of the Ontario Heart Foundation, campaign publicity committee of the United Way of Ottawa-Carleton, publicity committee of the social planning council of Ottawa-Carleton and a board member of the Catholic Family Services of Ottawa. For the profession of public relations, she served as chief examiner for the Canadian Public Relations Society of Canada (1973-1987), which approved the accreditation of public relations practitioners and its chair (1980-1982), receiving an award of merit from the society at the end of that term.

Upon returning to Toronto, Sister Zink resided at the Motherhouse (1981-1982), in a nearby house on Broadview Avenue (1983-1987) and a downtown apartment on De Grassi Street (1987-1992) with Sister Agnes Sheehan. Diagnosed with cancer, Sister Zink underwent treatment and joined the retired sisters at Scarborough Court for the six months before she died in St. Michael’s Hospital on October 25, 1992. The wake service was held at Scarborough Court and the funeral mass with celebrant Fr. Edward Dowling S.J. at nearby St. Boniface church. Her body is buried in the community's plot at Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.

Born 5 September 1872 of William Daly and Josephine Morin in Montreal, Quebec. Professed 5 October 1890, ordained 10 September 1898, died 3 June 1956.

At the age of 16, George entered Novitiate in St. Trond, Belgium, where he was also ordained in 1898. Returning to Canada in 1900, Fr. Daly served for the next 12 years at the minor seminary at St.-Anne-de-Beaupre, where he was appointed to a series of positions as socius, prefect of students and finally, seminary director. In 1912, Fr. Daly returned to his home parish of St. Ann’s in Montréal as its first rector under the new Vice Province of Toronto. He organized an orphanage and kindergarten as well as supported St. Ann's Young Men's Association. As part of the English-Canadian Redemptorist expansion into Western Canada, he was sent in 1915 as rector of the newly-built Holy Rosary Cathedral in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1918, he was sent to Saint John, New Brunswick as a missionary. Despite the change in assignment, he remained interested and concerned about the plight of immigrants and isolated settlers, meeting the immigrant boats at the city’s harbour and corresponding with Mother Mary McKillop’s missionaries in the outback of Australia. During this time, he also wrote Catholic Problems in Western Canada, a book as a result of his appointment in Regina.

Meanwhile Provincial Superior Arthur Coughlan with Catherine Donnelly and Toronto Archbishop Neil McNeil were planning the establishment of a women's religious congregation to provide the Church's presence among immigrants from the ports to the homesteads. For this new community of the Sisters of Service, the two tasks of finding money and candidates were assigned to Fr. Daly which he died via numerous speaking engagements across the country.

The Rule of the Institute of the Sisters of Service, also drafted by Fr. Daly, was based primarily on the theology and spirituality of St. Alphonsus “to serve the most abandoned.” On Fr. Daly’s office wall on the second-floor of the Sisters of Service Motherhouse in Toronto was a large framed motto: “Look at the Big Maps.” In these early years, Fr. Daly, who was appointed as their spiritual director and financial manager, strove to implement a broader vision through the ideals of the Rule. In the first 15 years the Sisters not only taught in rural public schools, but owned a Motherhouse and a Novitiate in Toronto as well as two hospitals in rural Alberta, two religious correspondence schools and seven women’s hostels. Mindful of the Redemptorists foundations, three of the Western Canadian hostels for immigrant women were purchased in the same cities of Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver as Redemptorist parishes.

In 1937, the administration of the Sisters of Service changed when the Chapter delegates elected the Sister General and the Council. Previously, the administration had been appointed by the Toronto Archbishop on the advice of Fr. Daly. This change also coincided with the start of Fr. Daly’s term as consultor (1936-1942) for the Toronto Province of the Redemptorists. In this period, decisions were made to continue expansion in Western Canada, taking responsibility of new parishes of Dawson Creek, BC (1936); Williams Lake, BC (1938); Nelson, BC (1939); Athabasca, Alberta (1940) and providing temporary pastoral care in Wells, BC (1941) and Claresholm, Alberta (1941) during the Second World War. During the next decade, a gradual shift occurred with the Sisters’ elected council increasingly assuming more of the administrative duties. After the Chapter of 1948, Fr. Daly, then 76, relinquished most of his responsibilities.

When he died of cancer in St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Fr. Daly was the oldest confrere in the Toronto Province at the age of 83. Funeral mass was celebrated in St. Patrick's Church by Cardinal James McGuigan of Toronto. His body was buried in the Redemptorist plot of Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.