Sister Mary Burns SC (Sister John Ignatius), a beloved Sister of Charity, Halifax for 59 years, entered peacefully into God’s loving embrace on December 24, 2025.

The daughter of the late John T. Burns and Helena (Dwyer) Burns, Sister Mary was born and raised in Dorchester, MA. Sister Mary leaves her sister, Helene Burns Rodriguez and her brother Jack Burns and his wife, Adele; her niece Michelle Meehan and her husband Brendan; her niece Janine Alpert and her husband Alex; her grandnieces and grandnephews, Layla and Max Meehan Sloane, Sasha, Sage and Samara Alpert, as well as her Sisters throughout the Congregation. She was preceded in death by her brother-in-law Edward Rodriguez.

Sister Mary’s life in ministry as a Sister of Charity was spent entirely in New York. She taught elementary school children at Saint Barnabas School, Bellmore, Our Lady of the Cenacle School. Richmond Hill, Saint Nicholas of Tolentine School, Jamaica, and the Martin De Porres School in Brooklyn. After thirteen years in education, Sister Mary was drawn to Pastoral Ministry and served in Queen of All Saints Parish and Saint Michael Parish, both in Brooklyn and then taught briefly at The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica. Throughout her ministries, Sister Mary nurtured a strong sense of social justice and following the murder of two of four women in El Salvador who worked with the poor, she became a founding member of the Maura Clark Ita Ford Center (MCIF), a women’s education center in Brooklyn, NY. Completing her active ministry there, Mary remained connected to the center and returned to Boston retiring at Marillac and Elizabeth Seton Residences in Wellesley, MA.

Funeral Services for Sister Mary Burns, SC will take place on Monday, January 5, 2026 at Mount Saint Vincent, 125 Oakland Street, Wellesley, MA. Wake at 9:15 AM followed by a Prayer Service at 10:15 AM and the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:45 AM. Interment at Saint Mary Cemetery, Needham, MA immediately following the Mass. In lieu of flowers donations in memory of Sister Mary Burns, SC may be made to the Sisters of Charity, 125 Oakland Street, Wellesley, MA 02481.