She actively opposed capital punishment and assisted suicide in New Zealand, and was a critic of apartheid in South Africa.
Born in 1930 in Waimea West to Roman Catholic parents, John and Eileen Engel, she was one of five siblings.
[citation needed] Engel taught history, English, geography, and religious studies at Carmel College from 1965 to 1983.
[4] Engel worked with the Ministry of Justice and wrote a history on the abolition of capital punishment in New Zealand, prior to entering religious life.
[2] At the age of 85, Engel submitted an opposition to the introduction of assisted suicide to the Parliamentary Health Committee.