San Francisco, California

Archbishop Joseph S. Alemany requested that the Sisters come to San Francisco in 1854 to open schools for the ever-increasing numbers of children arriving with the settler families. By the time of the 1906 earthquake, they had flourishing schools in the downtown and North Beach areas of San Francisco and in Berkeley. After the earthquake, with the work of 52 years in San Francisco laying in ruins, the Sisters immediately set about to meet the challenge of direct service to the victims of the disaster. In the years following, the Sisters extended their educational ministry to serve in a chain of parochial schools which stretched from Seattle, Washington, to Pecos, New Mexico.Presentation Sisters served in a variety of ministries including parishes in catechetical and outreach programs, in education at all levels, in literacy programs for immigrants and the undereducated, in community organizing and justice work, in hospitals, in retreat and spirituality work, prison ministry and foreign missions.