SISTER ROSALENE HOBAN (THERESE ROSE)

Sister Rosalene Hoban was born June 20 1938 at Hawarden, North Canterbury. Her parents were sheep farmers, part of the closely knit rural Catholic community of North Canterbury, They and their children all inherited a deep love for their family, their faith and their farm, “Parham Hill.”

She had three siblings Margaret, the eldest, who was to become Sister Peter Channel RNDM, her younger sister Philomene, who was to become Sister Aroha, Missionaries of Charity, and her brother, Patrick, who married Judith and had three children and three grandchildren. Faith, family and farm, these were always very important for Rosalene and formed her identity. Over the years she became the model aunt and great-aunt, never missing birthdays or special occasions.

Rosalene was familiar with the RNDM sisters from an early age. She went to the summer schools for country children run by the sisters in her early years, and then became a boarder at Sacred Heart College in Christchurch for her secondary education. By the age of nineteen she had decided to enter the Congregation, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Margaret.

Rosalene was professed in January 1960. After a couple of years gaining experience in the classroom, she attended Loretto Hall Catholic Teachers’ College in Auckland after which she spent the next twenty years of her life teaching in our primary schools across the country. She was a gentle and kind teacher, careful in her preparation and attentive to her students.

She taught in several parish schools in the Christchurch suburbs – New Brighton, Kaiapoi, Addington as well as in Kaikoura and Leeston. Then followed parish schools in Napier and Petone in the North Island. In all these schools she taught the junior classes with patience and encouragement, always with a keen interest in the progress of her pupils.

1981 saw Rosalene attending the Tertianship in Rome. On her return to New Zealand, she was missioned to Petone as Community Leader, Deputy Principal and class teacher in the local parish school.

Life took a different turn for Rosalene in 1987 when she was appointed as Province Secretary. This ministry was one she held for the next twenty-one years. During this time, she worked with a number of different leadership teams and developed a very broad understanding of the sisters, the Province and the Congregation at large. All appreciated her calm, unobtrusive and welcoming presence. She was thorough and reliable, and above all, she was the soul of discretion – an essential characteristic in a secretary.

In 2010 Rosalene was asked to join our Secretariate in Rome where she worked for four years. This gave her an even broader experience of our Congregation with its many different countries and cultures. Because of this, she is known and appreciated by many sisters across the world. She continued corresponding with Sister Theresa Gomes with whom she had worked and lived in Rome and had come to appreciate as a dear friend until it was no longer possible because of her deteriorating health, about a week before she died.

After returning to New Zealand in 2014, Rosalene joined the Nelson community before moving to our community in Addington, Christchurch, in 2017 to be near her sister, Margaret, whose health was failing and had been admitted to Nazareth Care Rest Home.

Rosalene had an ongoing love and special care for her “big” sister Margaret, particularly over the eight years of her dementia. In spite of being diagnosed with cancer, Rosalene continued to visit her sister until her own health prevented this. She herself was admitted to Nazareth Care for a very short time before her death.

When Rosalene died on September 13, 2025, it was as if Margaret realized this. She began to deteriorate quite quickly. She died very peacefully on September 29, just ten days after her younger sister Rosalene. They now rest side by side in the new RNDM plot in Avonhead cemetery, Christchurch.

As we reflect on her life, Rosalene’s deep faith and trust in God, whom she followed all her life, enabled her to accept situations of pain and disappointment, as well as joy and fulfillment. We know that her love for God and people was anchored deep within the heart of the RNDM call.

Rosalene lived her life quietly. In many ways, she was self-effacing. However, she was keenly observant and possessed a good understanding of human nature.

In Rosalene’s bible we found the following verse:
“I said to the one who stood by the gate of the year, give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you
better than light and safer than a known way.”

And so, we also say: Go well now dear Rosalene, with your hand in the hand of God. May you arrive well, and may you