Maureen McRae of St. Theresa, North Reading, is pictured in the parish's Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Dec. 10. Pilot photo/Wes Cipolla
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NORTH READING -- Maureen McRae arrived at St. Theresa Parish in North Reading at 8:40 a.m. on the foggy morning of Dec. 10, her well-loved Roman Missal clutched close to her chest.
As she does every Tuesday morning, McRae attended the 9 a.m. Mass, for which she serves as an extraordinary minister of Communion. She then went to the chapel with parochial vicar Father Augustin Anda for exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which lasts from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekly. McRae is always there for adoration from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. She also designed and sewed the red velvet fabric that surrounds the monstrance.
"Sometimes I pray, and sometimes I just listen," McRae, 77, told The Pilot, adding: "I feel like Jesus is with me when I do these things. And I feel like I get renewed, I get revived, even though I'm just sitting there quietly. I can't explain it."
McRae has lived in North Reading and worshiped at St. Theresa's for 30 years. For many of those years, adoration was on Saturdays, then Fridays, and a priest was not always present. She would keep watch from noon to 1 p.m. She would sometimes come to adoration and find that the Eucharist was "all alone."
"We have got to do something," McRae told Father Anda and Pastor Father Brian McHugh. "The Blessed Sacrament can't be left unattended like that."
McRae and the priests got to work recruiting adorers and spreading the word about the new adoration days. Now, there are at least two people in the adoration chapel each hour. McRae wants to bump that number up to three.
"We usually have lots of people each hour, but sometimes people have doctor's appointments or don't feel well," she said.
McRae's service to St. Theresa's doesn't stop at coordinating adoration each week. She is also a member of the parish council and pro-life committee. She and a few other women sew all of the gowns worn by children being baptized. She knitted all the angel costumes worn in St. Theresa's Nativity play last year, and frequently donates knitwear and homemade baked goods to parish events and fundraisers. She has taught second-grade faith formation classes for 27 years and is currently teaching CPR to parish staff. For all that, she was one of 151 people in the Archdiocese of Boston who received Cheverus Awards in 2023. From 2008 to 2023, the awards honored those who dedicated their lives to the church in Boston.
"Maureen is an outstanding woman who lives her faith in a very humble way," Father McHugh, who nominated McRae for the award, told The Pilot on Dec. 5. "Maureen never seeks the limelight. She is generous with her time, talent, and treasure."
After finding out she won the award, an "amazed" McRae attended the ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with her three children and nine grandchildren (her first great grandchild is expected in May). Her entire family and her fellow parishioners watched Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley place the medal around her neck.
"To have the cardinal give the medal and bless you, I was overwhelmed," she said.
She later told Father McHugh that it was one of the proudest moments of her life, besides the births of her children. Those were far from the only births McRae has been a part of. In her 50-year career as a nurse specializing in women's and postpartum health, she has witnessed thousands of babies be born. She assisted in the birth of one of the second graders in her faith formation class.
"Birth is a celebration of life," she said, "and it's always fascinating to me. We cry. I still cry."
McRae studied nursing at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital before getting her bachelor's and master's degrees at Boston College, then her doctorate at Boston University. She knew she wanted to be a postpartum nurse the moment she saw a live birth for the first time during her studies.
"I was scared to death," she said. "I had never seen it before. And at the same time I was fascinated."
In those days, mothers were so sedated that they were completely unconscious during birth. They would not see their babies until they were three hours old.
"I do feel it's a miracle," McRae said, "and I think I'm privileged to be a part of that celebration every time I'm there."
Even after half a century, she is touched by every new life and devastated by every death she sees.
"When I see a fetal demise, when I see a stillborn baby or a baby that's born that needs to go to children's hospital for surgery, I have to ask myself, 'Why?'" she said. "And then just believe that 'Thy will be done.'"
She has often found herself praying with her patients. Once, she found a rosary under the pillow of a woman in labor.
"Are you a Christian?" McRae asked.
"Yes, I am," the woman replied.
"Do you want to pray?" McRae asked.
"And we prayed," McRae recalled. "The father said she had a very strong connection with me because of that."
McRae still works in the Mother and Baby Unit at Winchester Hospital on a per-diem basis. She also serves as an extraordinary minister of Communion there. Many of the patients she sees are unable to get to the hospital chapel for Mass.
"They are breathless," she said. "They are so happy that the Eucharist is being brought to them because they're in bed."
McRae was born in Everett and grew up there with a twin sister and three brothers. Her mother was Protestant and her father was Catholic. The family attended Mass every Sunday. She recalled all of the stores being closed on Sundays because everyone was at church. After Mass, she went to her grandmother's house for family dinner. Italian food was always on the menu. Even back then she knew she wanted to be a nurse. Her mother wanted to be a nurse herself, but never finished high school. Her father wanted McRae to be a nun.
"I don't know about that," she said in response.
When she was a girl, Everett had five Catholic churches and two Catholic schools. It was a bit of a shock for her when she moved to North Reading and discovered that the town only had one parish.
"I wanted to get involved immediately," she said, "because I feel like the church -- I felt like it in Everett, and I feel like it here -- it's my second family."