Catholic Sisters Week 2026, Stories of Hope and Heart
Day 3, Service and Action with Sr. Marla Monahan, SND (Covington, KY Region)
“In a world of need, Catholic Sisters turn compassion into movement. Their
service is love made visible, faith lived through action.”
For Sister Marla Monahan, Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Covington and chairperson of the SND Eastern Kentucky Foundation, the Catholic Sisters Week theme of “Service and Action” is not something reserved for one week on the calendar. It reflects the way she lives her vocation every day.
Service to others is not something she adds to her schedule. Like many Catholic sisters, she sees it as inseparable from who she is. “Each of us is made in God’s image,” she said. “Our vocation is to be like God, who is love. Our vocation is showing love put into action.” Whether lived through marriage, single life or religious life, she believes every vocation calls people to become those of love, rooted in faith and open to others.“In my ministries and in my life, I never feel like it is just me and God,” she explained. “It is me, God and everyone else around the world, living in community with each other.” Her experience of serving the global community has been a gift throughout her religious life.
As a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame, she is part of an international congregation whose sisters share the same mission and charism while serving in many parts of the world. During her years in leadership as provincial, she traveled to Uganda each year to support and encourage missionary sisters and to assist with planning for the future of the congregation there. During her nine years in leadership, she also attended several international meetings of the Sisters of Notre Dame in some of the countries where the congregation serves, including Indonesia, Korea, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
For Sister Marla, attention to the people around us is an essential part of faith. Serving others stretches our hearts, deepens our compassion and draws people closer to God. “In loving others well, we draw closer to God,” she said. That conviction has guided her life from the beginning. As she discerned religious life, she felt drawn to a vocation centered on loving others freely. “When I was discerning becoming a sister, I felt called to love all God’s people, free to be open to anyone in my heart,” she said. What began as a desire quickly became a lifelong way of living. That openness to others has shaped each of her ministries.
Though previously a math and religion teacher, today in her primary ministry as Vicar for Religious in the Diocese of Covington, Sister Marla works closely with five major religious communities. She accompanies sisters as they discern how to respond to the needs of the Church and the world, offering encouragement, guidance and steady support.
She considers it a privilege to walk with these religious communities through moments of challenge and growth. Part of that ministry has also included helping establish an inter-community Peace and Justice Committee among women religious congregations in northern Kentucky. The group addresses pressing social concerns, including immigration, while offering programs on Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity. Members continue to meet regularly, offering resources, support and assistance to those in need. Much of the work happens quietly and without recognition, yet it reflects a steady commitment to compassion in action. In recognition of her service to the Church, Sister Marla was also awarded the Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice, also known as the Cross of Honor. The papal award is bestowed on clergy, religious and lay faithful who have given distinguished service to the Church.
In another role of her ministry, Sister Marla helps continue the service legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame in eastern Kentucky. As chairperson of the SND Eastern Kentucky Foundation, she helps guide efforts that support food pantries, assist families with electric bills, provide grant funding to those facing hardship and much more. “Serving on the Foundation is one way I try to live my trust in God,” she said. “It is about trusting God with the resources entrusted to us, sharing them generously and being faithful stewards of every gift.”
While her leadership roles involve important initiatives and community work, Sister Marla believes service is not always large or public. Often, it appears in small moments of kindness. “My dryer recently broke and I gave the gentleman who came to fix it a bag of cookies I had just made,” she recalled. “He was so thankful to be seen and thanked in that way and I was just as happy.” In these quiet, simple and joyful moments, she says we are reminded that many of life’s blessings are discovered in the act of giving.
Joy, she believes, comes from making a difference in people’s lives in ways that truly matter. Family, friendships and sisterhood help ground her ministry and sustain that sense of hope. For her, joy is not something to wait for in the future. It is a way of living and responding to the life God has given. “God’s got us. He truly cares for us and we are not alone,” she said. One Scripture passage that reflects her outlook on hope and joy is Psalm 23:6: “Only goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
She also finds hope in younger generations. She feels hope is especially alive in the generosity she sees among young people in the Church and in their desire to serve others. “The future of the Church belongs to all of us, each responding as we are able,” she said. Through her ministries and daily witness, Sister Marla believes the message remains simple: faith, love and service belong together, woven in our every day lives.
Love, as Sister Marla has witnessed, is not only something to speak about. It is something to live. When it is lived faithfully, even small acts of service can become visible signs of God’s love in the world.
The post Catholic Sisters Week 2026, Service and Action with Sister Marla Monahan, SND appeared first on Sisters of Notre Dame U.S.A..