Two Tanzanian women make final vows as Maryknoll sisters.
On June 22, the Maryknoll Sisters Center stirred with joy as Felista Wanzagi and Esther Warioba made their final vows at the Annunciation Chapel in Ossining, New York.
To the tune of a song in Swahili, Sisters Wanzagi and Warioba processed to the altar, adorned with Hawaiian garlands and wearing dresses that represented their mission journeys.
Sister Warioba wore a traditional Chinese robe, a red cheongsam, evoking the city of Hong Kong where she serves refugees and imprisoned women. The floral print on Sister Wanzagi’s dress symbolized her return to Hawaii, where she has volunteered at Wallyhouse, a Catholic Worker house of hospitality in Honolulu.
“These two stand on the shoulders of so many great Maryknoll sisters,” said Maryknoll Father Edward Dougherty, who presided at the Mass. “I’m happy to celebrate their lives and ask Almighty God for blessings on their ministry.”
In her address, Maryknoll Sister Antoinette “Nonie” Gutzler quoted three verbs from the day’s Scriptures: to become, to give, to gather. She told the new sisters to become the body of Christ, to give of themselves “for the life of the world” and to “gather the fragments of your community and mission experiences in Hong Kong, Guatemala, Tanzania, Hawaii and here at Maryknoll.” These fragments, she continued, “will become the seeds of tomorrow.”
Originally from Tanzania, both women attest to the harvest brought forth by seeds of mission planted by the first Maryknollers in the African continent almost 80 years ago.
Sister Wanzagi, 39, was inspired since her childhood by missioners such as Maryknoll Fathers Edward Dougherty and John Eybel, who served at her family’s parish. After high school, while she worked as a math teacher, her calling deepened.
“I encountered many students living with HIV/AIDS,” she says. “Their struggles ignited a fire within me to make a difference.”
Joining the Maryknoll Sisters in 2014, she worked in the sisters’ Home Care unit before her assignment in 2018 to Guatemala. There she served HIV/AIDS patients at Santa María Hospice, founded by Maryknoll Sisters Delia “Dee” Smith and Marlene Condon. An important part of the work, she says, was educating families to fight stigma and ease patients’ inclusion in society.
Returning to Tanzania the following year, Sister Wanzagi worked with Maryknoll Affiliate Constancia Bogoma in Chanua Group, a project in Mwanza that supports about 60 children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS, as well as a women’s group. In 2024, she was assigned to Hawaii where she volunteers at St. Francis Hospice and Maryknoll Grade School.
Sister Warioba, 43, was also inspired by Maryknoll missioners while growing up in Tanzania.
After her father died of illness when Warioba was a toddler, her mother was left to raise four children alone. Unlike most other parents in the village, her mother had completed secondary school.
“She encouraged me to get an education,” Sister Warioba says. “I loved going to school.”
To help her pursue that dream, Maryknoll Father James A. Conard sponsored her education at Kowak Girls Secondary School, which he had founded in the early 1990s. Warioba then studied adult education at the University of Dar es Salaam. She wanted, she says, to give other women the gift she received.
“In my village, many women and girls didn’t go to school, or they only went up to fifth grade,” she says.
Joining the Maryknoll Sisters in 2014, Sister Warioba was first assigned to the Sisters Center in New York. There she worked as a coordinator for the Maryknoll Mission Institute and in Home Care for elderly sisters. In 2019, she was assigned to Hong Kong, where she volunteers in prison ministries that accompany inmates and offer them educational opportunities.
For both sisters, the final vows Mass and ceremony reaffirmed their vocation and their mission experiences. “I felt the presence of God,” Sister Warioba says. “For a moment, I saw God’s glory.”
Sister Wanzagi says that making final vows is a fulfillment of the path she was already on. “It’s why I said yes to God from the beginning.”
Featured Image: Composite photo of Maryknoll Sisters Felista Wanzagi and Esther Warioba (left, right) at their final vows Mass and ceremony held at the Sisters’ Annunciation Chapel in Ossining, New York, on June 22, 2025. (Andrea Moreno-Díaz/U.S.)
