The Chancellor’s Office received word of the passing of Sister Yvonne Arcand, CSC (Sister M. Judith Clare) on February 4, 2025, at Saint Mary’s Convent, Notre Dame, Indiana. Sister Arcand entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross from Brookline, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1953 and made her initial Profession of Vows on August 15, 1956.  Her tenacious personality and gifts allowed her to become a consecrated woman religious for 68 years.

Yvonne Anita Arcand was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, a town just outside of Boston.  She was a true, strong-willed Bostonian, with an accent that never faded throughout her life. She had one older brother, Richard, and three younger brothers, Edgar Jr., James, and Robert.

In 1979, Sister Yvonne began serving in leadership roles. She was the principal of Blessed Sacrament School, Alexandria, Virginia until 1988, as well as the director of the school’s early childhood center.  She earned a master’s degree in early childhood education from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1980.  After earning a second Master’s degree at Loyola University in Chicago in 1990, she continued her education ministry in Florida. She was assigned to New Life Dwelling Place, Thonotosassa, a home and learning center for mothers and children who were victims of abuse; and Sacred Heart School, Tampa, where she was a kindergarten teacher and coordinator of the religion program.  She remained in Florida for another 22 years working as a teacher at the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa.  She was also the school’s pastoral minister until 2000.  Towards the end of her time at the academy, she became the director and teacher at Holy Cross Catholic Preschool and Center, West Palm Beach.  Since the preschool’s inception and up until Sister Yvonne’s retirement in 2015, she had been a valuable sister presence and was missed after her departure.

Since 2015, Sister Yvonne had been living in community at the motherhouse at Saint Mary’s. In addition to a ministry of prayer and presence, she lent her strong voice to the Church of Our Lady of Loretto choir, and occasionally helped with the stamp ministry.   Her health limited her ability to enjoy these activities during the last years of her life, but her love for being in the company of others sustained her. She has now joined her parents, brothers Richard and Robert, and many other Sisters of the Holy Cross in heaven. May Sister Yvonne be at peace in God’s embrace.

Services will be held at the Church of Our Lady of Loretto on Thursday, February 20, 2025, with visitation at 9:30 a.m.  Prayers and memento at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Mass of the Resurrection.  A complete obituary is available at this link.

Please keep Sister Arcand, her family and the Sisters of the Holy Cross in your thoughts and prayers.

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May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed
by the mercy of God, rest in peace!