“Justice is our Way of Life”
Motto of the Presentation Sisters
In 1880, the Presentation Sisters were invited and came to Dakota Territory from Dublin, Ireland to teach the children of the Lakota people and French settlers. In 1886, three Sisters responded to Father Robert Haire’s invitation to start Sacred Heart School in Aberdeen and soon were staffing parish schools around the Diocese of Sioux Falls. When a diphtheria epidemic struck the Aberdeen area in 1900, the Sisters were asked to care for the sick. In 1901, they began a healthcare ministry by opening their first hospital, (Avera) St. Luke’s. Education and healthcare ministries expanded as needs of people in the region increased.
In the 1960s, Sisters answered the Church’s call for missionaries. Presentation Sisters have been missioned to Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala and Zambia, Africa. With this same spirit, the congregation began a ministry in 2002 walking alongside Hispanic immigrants in South Dakota.
In response to Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Sí, the Congregation founded the Laudato Sí Ministry in 2021. This ministry is dedicated to caring for and enhancing the grounds of Presentation Heights, celebrating and revealing its natural beauty and caring for all of creation.
In 2023, in continuing their mission of both education and healthcare, the Sisters formed a partnership with Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, IA, founding the Nano Nagle Online School of Nursing and the Presentation Sisters School of Nursing.
The congregation co-sponsors Avera Health with the Yankton Benedictine Sisters, ensuring that the mission and values remain constant for years to come.
While best known for education and healthcare ministries, the thread that runs through the Aberdeen Presentation Sisters’ mission is to alleviate oppression and promote human dignity especially among the poor. As an apostolic congregation the Sisters’ lives are centered in prayer from which their ministry flows – contemplation in action. The Sisters live by their motto, “Justice is our Way of Life” and they serve joyfully like the Blessed Virgin Mary and with zeal as Venerable Nano Nagle, their foundress.