Sister Rosemary Lynch was born on March 18, 1917, in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended St. Mary’s parish schools in Phoenix.[1] She continued with Franciscan influence and joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in 1932, later affirming her vows in 1934.[2] The early years of her work consisted of teaching in a secondary school in Los Angeles, and later, in 1952, she became a principal for a school in Montana.[3] She knew eight languages.[4]
In 1960, she was elected to the central administration of the Franciscan sisters. During her years in Rome as a congregation representative, she helped in the Second Vatican Council.[5] During this period, she traveled to Indonesia, Mexico, and Africa. She later mentioned that those experiences pushed her to attempt nonviolent social change.[6] So when she returned to the United States in 1977, she joined a new community in Las Vegas by other Franciscan groups, and co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience and Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service.[2] One of her protests was the first “Lenten Desert Experience” in Nevada.[5]
Sister Rosemary Lynch died on January 9, 2011, after suffering several injuries from a car crash while walking with Sister Klaryta Antoszewska.[5] She continued her work right up to her death while not as a staff position but as a “Pace e Bene Elder"[4]