Sister Mary Michael Glenn, whose ideas of teaching and living the Catholic faith prefigured Vatican II and influenced both local high school students and church leaders in Rome, died Sunday at 88.

Sister Mary Michael Glenn

A native of Ford City, Armstrong County, she wanted to enter the Sisters of Divine Providence immediately after high school but waited several years to care for her ailing mother. She worked for the Internal Revenue Service until she entered the convent in 1940.

Throughout the 1950s, she taught high school at St. Basil in Carrick, where Ellen Rufft had her for freshman religion in 1951. The students whispered that Sister Mary was the only pretty nun at the school, but they soon discovered that was not what made her remarkable, said her former student, who Sister Mary inspired to become Sister Ellen Rufft.

"She was very interested in the kids really liking religion and wanting to read the Scriptures," Sister Ellen said. Frustrated that her students seemed bored, she asked them why.

One responded, "Sister, it's because you are answering questions that we are not asking."

That compelled Sister Mary to write a series of groundbreaking textbooks, published in 1960. In the era of rote memorization from The Baltimore Catechism, her Roots of Faith series took Bible passages and applied them to daily life.

"It was all about things that high school kids would be interested in, and it made you want to read the Scriptures and know God," said Sister Ellen.

"I think her ideas were way ahead of Vatican II."

The books were published nationally, and Sister Mary produced television programs based on them. She was department chairwoman of religion at Canevin High School and Divine Providence Academy, and supervisor of religious education for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

She also went back to school, earning a master's degree in theology from Notre Dame in 1956, with further studies at Catholic University of America. In 1967, when ecumenism was still a pioneering idea, she began work on a doctorate from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian school, but was called to Rome before she could complete it.

After Vatican II, all religious orders were required to hold special meetings in Rome to rediscover their original mission and apply it to contemporary life. Sister Mary was elected as a representative of the Sisters of Divine Providence in the United States.

In 1980, she was elected to the order's General Council in Rome, where she served 10 years before being elected to five years as general superior in 1990.

"She had a lot to do with the rewriting of our rule [of life]. There is not a line in our directives that was not influenced by her thinking," Sister Ellen said.

She helped the Sisters of Divine Providence in Korea become an independent province and made several arduous visits to sisters who worked in remote mountainous regions of Peru.

"Mary was very into social justice issues. She was always for our being involved with the poor and helping people most in need," Sister Ellen said.

Returning home, she lived in a residence where sisters cared for foster children.

"After being superior general you'd think that some things might have been beneath her, but she was the person who did the laundry for the foster kids. For being as brilliant as she was, she was a simple person," Sister Ellen said.

She continued to lecture on Catholic theology until her memory began to fail several years ago.

"We always teased that she wouldn't let anybody be left out, she wouldn't let anybody be left behind and she wouldn't let any leftover be thrown away. Everything ended up in soup or bread pudding, even if she had to cut the mold off the bread," Sister Ellen said.

"She saw things that other people didn't see, and she didn't know how to hold a grudge. The only quality that I would say drove people crazy sometimes was her tenacity. Sometimes when she knew something was right, she wouldn't let go of it. She was usually right, and later on, you'd see it."

Sister Mary is survived by a sister, Patricia Pepper of Ford City.

Friends will be received at Providence Heights in McCandless tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 3:15 p.m. A Mass will be celebrated at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Mother of Divine Providence Chapel.

Memorials may be given to the Sisters of Divine Providence Ministry Fund, 9000 Babcock Blvd., Allison Park 15101.