Margaret C. McEntee SR. SC., also known by her confirmation name Marita James, (born July 10, 1935) is an American

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...

and educator who is known as being the inspiration for the character of Sister James in the Pulitzer Prize and

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning play '' Doubt: A Parable'' by

John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...

. The 2008 film adaptation is dedicated to her.No Doubt About It, Nun Inspired Story
Retrieved May 10, 2016

Biography

Sister James was born and raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and is of Irish Catholic ancestry, the daughter of Margaret (née Ware) and James McEntee. She attended St. Margaret of Cortona School in Riverdale. She took the name of Marita James for her

confirmation name In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

. Later in her career it became acceptable for nuns to use their baptismal name, so she reverted to using the name Sister Margaret. She first taught school at St. Anthony's School in the Bronx. She felt compelled to join the sisters at a young age, and after graduating high school she joined the

Sisters of Charity of New York The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of New York, most often known as the Sisters of Charity of New York, is a religious congregation of sisters in the Catholic Church whose primary missions are education and nursing and who are dedicated ...

at age 18 in 1953. She became an educator at age 21. One of her students was the playwright

, who has stated in interviews that Sister James was a major influence in his life. She has taught at many religious institutions in the Bronx, including principal at St. Barnabas High School, where she was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2013. She has taught religion at the

Notre Dame School The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names hav ...

, St. Raymond Academy, and the

College of Mount Saint Vincent A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. Through her work with the Sisters of Charity, she has been involved with many community service projects for the Bronx community. Outside of the Bronx, she served as the Assistant Principal at St. Augustine's College in Nassau,

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, and also taught in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Portrayal in media

When ''Doubt'' was preparing to open on the Broadway stage, she coached actress

Heather Goldenhersh Heather Goldenhersh is an American actress. She has appeared on Broadway, on television, and in feature films. Early life Goldenhersh was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in St. Louis. She has said that she is "half-Jewish Jew ...

on how to play the role of a nun based on herself. Goldenhersh was nominated for the

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play The Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Th ...

for her portrayal. McEntee was hired to serve as technical advisor for the 2008 film version of ''

Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty ...

''. She coached the production team as well as actress

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, incl ...

, who was portraying her, in how things worked within the Sisters of Charity, in particular at the time the story is set in the 1960s. Adams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal. While the character Sister James is based on McEntee, the characters Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius, along with the story of abuse within the school where she taught, are entirely fictional and created by Shanley for dramatic purposes. McEntee has attended regional productions of ''Doubt'' as a special guest and mentor for the production.Doubt cut from nun's cloth
Retrieved May 11, 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McEntee, Margaret 1935 births Daughters and Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Living people People from the Bronx Schoolteachers from New York (state) 20th-century American women educators People from Riverdale, Bronx 20th-century American educators 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns Catholics from New York (state) Educators from New York City American expatriates in the Bahamas American people of Irish descent 21st-century American women