It’s 10 a.m. at Greenhills Bakery, and the line of sleepy residents in need of their morning caffeine has grown past the shelves of traditional Irish breads and various flavors of muffins and wrapped itself around the corner of the cafe.
A large, black, 15-passenger van pulls in off Adams Street and the driver effortlessly parks it in a tight space in a lot across from Molinari’s. The driver’s door swings open, and Sister Joyce McMullen, who has just delivered food to residents in the Harbor Point community, steps out and heads into the bakery for an iced coffee and a raspberry scone.
An elderly woman driving a vehicle as big as McMullen’s is not a common sight in most places, but she has been a vital presence in Dorchester and has had plenty of practice behind the wheel of a van since joining the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) in 1962 and spending most of the next decade teaching as Sister Alice William at St. Gregory and St. Mark grammar schools in Dorchester and at St. Mary’s School in Waltham.
For Catholics, the 1960s and 1970s were years of ferment rising from the changes brought to church practices by the historic Vatican II Council that began in 1962 and ran through 1965. One change – the allowing of public outreach by nuns who, clothed in black, had for generations lived in and worked out of convents associated with nearby parish schools and churches – significantly altered the course of Sister Alice William’s life.
With the support of her order, she switched from the classroom to the driver’s seat in shuttle vans and by 1973, she had co-founded Project Care and Concern (PCC) in Dorchester.
Superiors with her order had sent out a letter noting the needs at Columbia Point and asking if they were matters local nuns could possibly respond to, said McMullen. One sister started a Montessori School on the Point for the kids, and she embraced the adults.
“What we did with the seniors at PCC is we did meals,” said McMullen. In addition, there were trips to Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. Because Columbia Point is located on the bay as a peninsula, she pointed out, it’s not in the community. People were very isolated there at the time and the neighborhood was failing.
“I think what we did,” said McMullen, “is we took the seniors out of the development, and I think that made a big difference in their lives.”
Since that initial effort, she has gone through five vans servicing the needs of Columbia Point residents while continuing to take adults on pleasure rides to venues both near and far away.
PCC also brought the community into the development,” she told The Reporter. “We did a lot of home visiting, and we brought in a sister who did hairdressing. We had a lot of different opportunities. Anther sister came in and did arts and crafts. There was a lot going on.” There was even a PCC thrift store where clothing and household items could be purchased at reasonable prices.
Some 50 plus years later, McMullen gets into her van every Wednesday morning, as she did on the morning of the interview, and drives to Newton, where she grew up, to pick up bushels of bread before turning around to distribute them to Harbor Point residents.
PCC’s mission is to build nurturing communities in Dorchester where children are cherished, families are supported, and the elderly are respected, which is what McMullen and her team set out to do a half-century ago.
Over time, the seniors she was helping out asked her to do something for their grandchildren, too. Her years in parochial school classroom came into play with that request.
“I did some outreach and we did a Boys Club and a Girls Club once a month and took them to different things,” said McMullen. One of her favorite memories working with children was helping many of them attend overnight summer camps.
“We had about five overnight camps, so thousands of children went to camp. I think that is just the best thing you can do for children. They have to be able to develop on their own with other children.”
Whether working with the young or the old, McMullen says she’s just happy to help. She said she joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who have played integral roles in Boston’s Catholic community since 1849 when they came to teach at St. Mary’s School in the North End, because she identified with their mission to work with the poor.
“In working with the poor,” she said, “it’s not just direct service, it’s advocating. That’s a model of social justice. You don’t just do charity work, you have to change the system, the cause of the problem.”
Sister McMullen’s efforts to do just that haven’t gone unnoticed. Last month, after a Saturday Mass at Keystone, where McMullen has lived for the last eight years, she was honored for her long, unrelenting service.
There was a certificate of recognition from Mayor Wu and the City of Boston, a resolution endorsed by Dorchester City Councillor John Fitzgerald officially declaring “Sister Joyce McMullen Day” in Boston, and a certificate of special Congressional recognition from US Rep. Stephen Lynch of South Boston. The latter document celebrates McMullen’s decades of service to the state and congratulates her on the quickly approaching retirement that she says she is anticipating with a certain acceptance.
“I’m 82 and none of us are going to live forever,” she said with a knowing smile.
