The Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence (MCDP), the OLLU community, as well as countless other people she touched during her life are still mourning the loss of Sister Anita de Luna. 

De Luna passed away on Oct. 27 after a four year long battle with ovarian cancer. 

“She was a very strong and determined woman, full of imagination and hope,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Mary Francine Danis said.

De Luna, 59, had led a life filled with many accomplishments and honors.  She was an author, professor, former superior general of theMCDP's, and the director of the OLLU Center for Women in Church and Society. 

The only one of nine siblings to graduate high school, de Luna made education a priority in her life.  She earned several college degrees, including a doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, California. 
           
Education was something she emphasized to her students and other young people in her life.
           
“I believe that Sister Anita's greatest impact upon the OLLU community was that of sharing the profound gifts of her intelligence, her cultural rootedness and her spirituality,” said her close friend and fellow CDP, Sister Janette Hernandez. “Sister Anita looked forward to the interactions with her students, to see, as she would say, 'to see them light up with new awareness about themselves brought on by their study.”  

She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2004 from the University of Notre Dame in recognition for the MCDP's work for the “evangelization of the faithful of the Southwest.”  That year she was also recognized by Bank of America a one of five “local heroes,” whose leadership skills helped local neighborhoods flourish.

A member of the MCDPs since 1966, De Luna served as the congregation's first superior general, a position she held for a decade.

De Luna had been a professor of religious studies on campus for three years before her passing.  She touched many students, as well as faculty and staff.

In reflecting on the legacy De Luna has left behind, Hernandez had this to say, “May we at OLLU be blessed with Sister Anita's spirit of receiving only to give back a hundredfold.”