Helen Hodson

Helen Hodson

(1951 – 2017)

Helen Hodson, staff worker of Madonna House, died peacefully on Tuesday, April 25 in Our Lady of the Visitation – St. Mary’s, Combermere, ON, 

Helen was born in Cumbria, England.  She attended primary and secondary schools in Preston, Lancs., England, and Christ’s College of Education in Liverpool, England. After graduation, she taught in St. Albert’s Roman Catholic Infant School and served as houseparent and teacher in schools for children with special needs in Sussex and Surrey.  She spent a year in the U.S. working again as a group parent and teacher for children with special needs. She came to Madonna House in the spring for a retreat and returned in the summer for a longer visit.  

Helen became an applicant in December of 1977 and made her First Promises a year later. Helen served in Marian Centre, Edmonton; as well as in Toronto and Muskegon Michigan. She returned to England in 1987, serving at Madonna House in Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire.  After a year, she was appointed the Local Director of that house, in which position she served for some six years.  

She returned to Combermere for a time of renewal that included a thirty day Ignatian retreat, and then began a year of pilgrimage to many of the holy places of England and pursuing Ignatian spirituality more deeply.  After her return to Combermere in 1996, Helen was assigned to the handicraft department but also spent two days a week in the silence, solitude and prayer of poustinia.  From this time emerged the writing of icons and the directing of Ignatian retreats. These included being on the team giving retreats to seminarians of St. Peter’s Seminary, London, as well as retreats to members of Madonna House and to others in Combermere, Winslow, AZ, Vancouver, B.C., and Whitehorse, Yukon.  

Helen was predeceased by her parents.  Besides her Madonna House family, she is survived by her cousin, Mrs. Helen Melling of Preston, England.

Wake services for Helen will be held on Sunday, April 30, with the reception of the body at 1:30 p.m. at Madonna House St. Mary’s Chapel, with viewing of the body from 2 to 4 p.m. and again from 7-9 p.m. The prayer service will be at 8 p.m.   A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, May 1 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary’s Chapel with internment at the Madonna House cemetery. A reception will follow.  

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