Home Parish: Holy Rosary, Johnsonburg, PA

Sister Angela Marie Servidea first felt a call to religious life when she was in first grade at Holy Rosary School in Johnsonburg. Throughout her years there, she was drawn to the Sisters and often thought about becoming a Sister herself. She remembers that she did not want to attend public school, although she had no alternative. On the way home from school, she and her friends would often stop at the Catholic church, where she loved spending time. As she grew older, that early attraction to the Sisters and her love of being in church continued to deepen. When she told her family that she wanted to enter religious life after graduation, her parents and siblings were very supportive. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on August 31, 1955, from Holy Rosary Parish and professed her final vows on August 15, 1961.

Sister Angela Marie attended Holy Rosary Elementary School and graduated from Johnsonburg High School in 1955. She continued her education at Villa Maria College, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education in 1969. She also attended music and pastoral workshops in Wisconsin and Kentucky, developing gifts that would become an important part of her ministry.

For nearly 30 years, Sister Angela Marie served as a teacher in diocesan schools, including St. Ann and Our Lady’s Christian Schools in Erie and St. Bernard School in Bradford. Music was also an important part of her ministry. She taught piano at St. Bernard, Villa Maria Conservatory in Erie, Holy Rosary in Johnsonburg, and St. Leo in Ridgway. She also taught at Maryvale Preschool.

Her ministries eventually expanded beyond the classroom. Sister Angela Marie served as Director of Horizon House in Union City from 1985 to 1987 and as Director of Religious Education at Holy Redeemer in Warren from 1987 to 1988. She then served as Pastoral Minister at Holy Rosary in Johnsonburg from 1988 to 1990. From 1990 to 1994, she worked as a private caregiver in Johnsonburg.

Sister Angela Marie continued her ministry of caring for others as a nurse aide at St. Joseph Monastery in St. Marys and with Community Nurses from 1994 to 2007. From 2007 to 2014, she served as a companion to her cousin, who lived in a personal care home. Through these ministries, she found meaningful ways to continue serving others, particularly the elderly and homebound.

Sister Angela Marie credits several Sisters with nurturing her vocation. Sister Maurita, her choir director, shared her love of music and introduced the students to new songs, helping Sister Angela Marie grow closer to the vocation she already felt called to. Sister John Marie, her Sodality Leader, also influenced her through her spirituality and the way she reached out to the young women in her care.

Scripture has remained an important source of inspiration throughout Sister Angela Marie’s life, particularly Jesus’ words in John 15:16: “I have chosen you, you have not chosen me.” She is also drawn to the invitation in the Song of Songs: “Come my Beloved one, my Beautiful one, come.” These words reflect the call she first sensed as a young girl and have continued to speak to her throughout her life as a Sister of St. Joseph.

Her love for the elderly and homebound continues to be an important part of how she understands her vocation. She is grateful for the freedom to reach out to those who may be isolated and to see in that ministry a reflection of Christ’s own ministry to His people.

For Sister Angela Marie, prayer remains essential to living that call. She encourages others to make time for the Lord each day, even if only for 15 minutes. “Just sitting with the Lord in quiet and talking with him helps to focus on the spiritual part of your life,” she says. For her, those quiet moments of prayer provide the grace needed to meet each day and continue answering the call she first heard as a little girl at Holy Rosary School.