Missionary sisters celebrate 25 years bringing Christ to Brentwood

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish will hold a special Mass honoring their service in the East Bay 

For 25 years, the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Mary Immaculate have taken their charism for the Eucharist, and shared it in Brentwood through evangelization, faith education, compassion and community. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Brentwood will be celebrating that quarter-century of presence with a Mass and gathering on Saturday, September 27 at 5 p.m.

“They bring a kind of stability and presence which speaks a lot louder in many ways to people's experience of the kind of personal self-giving that we call upon all of our clergy to do,” said Father Jerry Brown, the now-retired former pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary who will offer the homily during the celebration Mass. 

“What they really bring is that kind of focus on the presence of the Lord in the community and in the Blessed Sacrament and in scripture. They also teach. They’re involved in everything.” 

Three Missionary Sisters live deeply involved lives in the parish and Brentwood community: Sr. Januaria Beleño, MSS, Sr. Guadalupe Grande, MSS, and Sr. Maria Teresa Rodriguez, MSS. The order was founded in Spain in 1896 and has a provincial in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

“We came to be part of the Diocese of Oakland because Father John Garcia and Father Daniel Graham, invited us to come because they wanted a sister in his parish. The provincial at that time accepted, and three sisters came to Brentwood at the end of 1999,” said Sister Januaria Beleño, who is originally from Colombia. 

“The community built the house for us, and we started to work, especially in the fields with the immigrants. Father Garcia celebrated Mass there in the fields of apples and asparagus, and we went with him all the time.” 

She said the sisters’ work in the parish grew to leading retreats with youth and CCD classes, with both the English and Spanish-speaking communities. It also came in expanding the parish’s opportunities for Adoration.

“That is our charism, the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He had Adoration already, every Friday, all day and all night. We asked him, ‘Because that is our charism, why not add another day?’” she said. 

Sister Beleño, who has spent most of those 25 years in Brentwood, has been a stalwart presence for the Eucharist, but also for teaching and action in the community. 

“They’re missionary sisters,” said Father Brown, who served at Immaculate Heart of Mary from 2006-16. 

“They aren't contemplative. Certainly they have that side to them, but they’re out there doing stuff.” 

“Father Garcia was not in his office all the time. He was working with the people. We had to go out to

reach the poor, the poorest of the poorest,” said Sister Beleño. 

“There are many people that also are empty and they need spiritualization. They need people who take care of them.” 

The sisters provide spiritual food not only in the youth ministry they provide in CCD classes and retreats, but how they instill their Eucharistic charism into what they share. 

“I'm talking to young peoples’ parents, more than 100 every Tuesday, talking about the Eucharist. They have to understand the meaning and importance of the Eucharist that is the heart of the Christian life,” said Sister Beleño. 

“If I am empty of Him, I can give nothing to the people. But if I am nourished by Him, I can give a lot because He is the one who is doing everything.” 

Father Brown notes how even the little meticulous details surrounding the worship and sharing of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament have played a major role in the sisters’ ministries. 

“One of the things that they took responsibility for was the sacristy. There were nine Masses on the weekend. They were involved in making sure that everything was prepared,” he said. 

“Sister Januaria would say something about finding a crumb of the Eucharist on the altar table. She would say ‘You know, He's in that too.’ She was very concerned about those kinds of reverence.” 

Sometimes, the sisters’ roles involve doing the irreverent - including the occasional calling to be a serpent-removal service. 

“We had Father Fabio Corea on staff who’s now in St. Cornelius in Richmond. On Saturdays, we each had our own space to hear confessions. Father Fabio went into his confessional,” Father Brown said. 

“We heard this shriek, and he came screaming out of the confessional. There was a snake. It was just a garter snake. I was just on the floor laughing. And a sister went in, picked it up and took it out and threw it out. No nonsense.” 

Whether responding to calls for help in snake removal, or for instilling the Holy Spirit into young people in both English and Spanish, the sisters remain in serving God and serving Brentwood, and in calling people to see Christ as the heart of their lives and their missions. 

“I'm not following like a stranger, I follow Him. He is the center,” said Sister Beleño.

“Our Mother Founders always say that the missionary sisters have to have one mind and one heart, all together in Him.”