SISTER YOLANDA TARANGO, CCVI

Sister Yolanda Tarango, CCVI, is the Chair of CCVI US Ministries, and she was the Executive Director of Visitation House Ministries, founded in 1985 to respond to the needs of poor and vulnerable women and children. Visitation House programs include transitional housing for homeless women and children and a learning center for low-income women. Prior to this Sister Yolanda served as Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word from 2008 to 2014. In this position, she was responsible for guiding the Sisters’ ministries, business affairs, and spiritual life. Responsibilities included oversight and governance of the health care and education ministries of the Congregation. Today, April 30, 2022, the CCVI Sisters, after a deep discernment, elected her once again as their Congregational Leader for the next four years (2022-2026).

A native Texan, Sister Yolanda holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Austin, a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Incarnate Word College in San Antonio. She has also completed: a residency at Hedgebrook Writer’s Retreat in Langley, Washington; the Executive Program in Public management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; the Executive Leadership Program at the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, N. Carolina; the Women and Politics Program at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Prior to her election as Congregational Leader, Sister Yolanda served in diverse roles. She worked with emotionally disturbed youth in Dallas; taught and coordinated youth ministry activities on the diocesan level in Amarillo; designed and implemented spirituality and leadership training programs for single adults and initiated a Youth Ministry training program in El Paso. In San Antonio she has served as: Pastoral Program Director for the Mexican American Cultural Center, as Director for the Westside Parish Coalition, and as Director for her congregation’s Volunteers in Mission program. In 1985, with another CCVI, she co-founded Visitation House, which provides housing, education and other support for homeless women and their children. She served as director of this ministry for 12 years, until she was elected to her current position.

Throughout her career Sister Yolanda has worked on a variety of committees and boards including: University of the Incarnate Word Board of Trustees; CHRISTUS Health Mission & Ethics Committee; CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital Foundation Board; Board of Directors for CHRISTUS Northern Louisiana Health System, Incarnate Word Health System, Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System, Clinica de Las Hermanas, and Incarnate Word Foundation.

She has also served on the: Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of Religious Life in Chicago; Affirmative Action Committee for City Public Service, San Antonio; Diversity Taskforce for National Catholic Health Association, St. Louis; National Committee, Women’s Economic Alternative Network; Advisory Board, Domestic Violence Unit, San Antonio, TX; National Commission on Catholic Health Care Ministry; Church Relations Advisory Board, Texas Department of Human Resources; Regional Advisory Board for the Texas Department of Human Resources; Executive Committee of the Texas Catholic Conference; and the National Committee for Theology in the Americas.

In addition, Sister Yolanda was: a founding Board Member of Mary’s Pence, Catholic Women’s Foundation in Chicago; National Coordinator for Las Hermanas USA; Commissioner with the Mayor’s Commission of the Status of Women, San Antonio; Program Chair for Hispanas Unidas II, San Antonio; Board President of the National Assembly of Religious Women. She is an Alumna of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, Washington, DC, and a Fellow of the Fund for Theological Education.

Sister Yolanda has authored a number of publications regarding the issues faced by Hispanic women in today’s society and in the Catholic Church, and has lectured on this topic many times. She has been honored for her work by: PEACE Initiative with the Phoenix Award; Mexican American Business and Professional Women with the Estrella Award; Mind Science Foundation with the Imagineer Award; University of the Incarnate Word, with a Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, and by the Loretto Women’s Network with the Mary Rhodes, Women of Justice Award, Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the US with the Virgilio Elizondo Award, and La Comunidad of Latino Theologians with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Read more: https://www.archsa.org/news/sister-yolanda-tarango-a-life-of-changes-and-challenges