New team members, all of whom have ministered in the Diocese of San Bernardino, are Sister Mary Jo Nelson, President; Sister Lucille Martinez, Vice President; and Sister Ginger Downey, General Secretary. The new Leadership Team’s term will run through 2020.
Sr. Mary Jo, from Portland, Ore., previously served on the OLVM Leadership Team from 2000-08. She has also served as general treasurer, vocation and formation minister, and mission integration coordinator at Victory Noll. Among her ministries, she has previously served in the Diocese of San Bernardino as Director of Catechetical Ministry, Vicar for Religious, Director of Pastoral Planning, Vice Chancellor, and Chancellor. Sr. Mary Jo has also served as Consultant and Process Facilitator for Religious Congregations in the U.S. and for the Leadership Conference for Women Religious (LCWR) from 2002-16.
Sr. Lucille is a native of Chimayo, N.M., and previously has served in OLVM leadership with two terms from 1980-88 and also two terms from 2004-12. She has worked in parish ministry in several states (California, Arizona and New Mexico) as Director of Religious Education and as a Pastoral Associate. For 10 years she was a Pastoral Coordinator of several parishes in the Diocese of San Bernardino including Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Riverside.
Sr. Ginger, a native of Shoshoni, Wyo., is in her second consecutive term on the Leadership Team, serving as general secretary from 2012-16. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Wyoming and a Master of Theology degree in Liturgical Studies from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.
She has worked as a community vocation director in dioceses in Fort Wayne, Chicago, San Bernardino (Calif.), Cheyenne (Wyo.), and Phoenix. Her ministry work has also included Director of Religious Education, Director of Liturgy, Pastoral Associate for Liturgy and Religious Education and Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Phoenix.
Founded in 1922 by Father John Joseph Sigstein, Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters is a religious community of women rooted in a Marian and missionary spirituality and dedicated to proclaiming the Word of God, fostering justice, standing in solidarity with those living in poverty and oppression, and promoting the development of leaders.