sister stories

When Sister Carmel Rojek reflects on her call to the religious life, she describes it as a metanoia, or conversion, experience. “I had never entertained ideas of becoming a religious,” she said. “But gradually through my young adult life, I started to ask myself questions about existence.” She remembers looking out the window, watching the…

Sr. Mary Kay McNelis was recently honored by Pastor Fr. Dan Arnold and the parishioners of St. Mark the Evangelist Church in Lawrence Park where she served as Director of Religious Education for 8 years. Sister Mary Kay attended the Liturgy on Dec. 11, during which she was warmly welcomed and renewed acquaintances with families,…

“God working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”  Ephesians 3 A mother and grandmother, Sister Linda Fusco, SSJ, celebrates 25 years as a Sister of St. Joseph this year. A late vocation, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. Joseph Parish, Sharon, at age 41. At the…

“This is what God asks of you, only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 Sister Marianne Stuckert, SSJ, offers this advice to those interested in devoting time and energy to their spiritual lives: “Slow down. Take time to listen to your heart and you will…

“You shall love the Lord, your God… This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22 Over 60 years of religious life, Sister Marie Timmons, SSJ, taught at 11 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Erie. But her teaching skills didn’t end there.…

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.”       Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 Children are at the heart and soul of Sister Jude Marie Talerico’s 60 years of religious life. A Sister of St. Joseph in Erie, Sister Jude Marie spent 45 years teaching in Catholic schools…

“Stimulated by the Holy Spirit of love and receptive to His inspirations, the Sister of Saint Joseph moves always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction…”    From the Consensus Statement of the Sisters of St. Joseph Sister Ann Stephanie Stano, SSJ, always has had a great love of education—as a student, a teacher, a…

When I’m out taking pictures, I’m ever surprised with the new and different ways God comes to me. “Flowers,” says Sister Nancy Sonnenfeld,SSJ, “are just like people—the strong, the weak, those that need much care, those that survive no matter what; the varying colors, the tall, the short and on and on.” A woman of…

Sister Veronica Mittal, SSJ, formerly known as Sister Andrene, was born in Masury, Ohio, but grew up in Sharon. The daughter of Andrew and Mary (Dacey) Mittal, she attended Sacred Heart School in Sharon, where she was taught by Benedictine Sisters. She graduated from Brookfield High School in nearby Brookfield, Ohio, and attended religious education…

“…eyes open and ears attentive to the sufferings of the world…spirit alert…sleeves rolled up for ministry without excluding the more humble, the less pleasing, the less noticeable.” Father Marius Nepper, SJ The life of Sister Phyllis Hilbert, SSJ, is a testament to her father, Joseph (Tex) Hilbert, a police officer, and her mother, Mary, a…