News

We want to keep you in the loop of what’s happening in the SSJ Erie community. Browse through this section to explore our most recent publications, our Facebook feed, our Jubilarians' bios, and the most recent obituaries of our Sisters who have passed.

Meet SSJ Associate Rita Lyle

| February 3, 2020

Rita says that becoming an associate has enhanced her spiritual life and she enjoys the friendship of the sisters. For the past 12 years, she was a volunteer in Marycrest where she enjoyed working with the sisters. More recently, she has been volunteering in the Associate Office. Rita is the second of four girls in…

Lessons from geese

| February 3, 2020

One day last week on my way into work, I was met by two Canada Geese that were blocking the door to the admin. building. I tried to get them to move but I was unsuccessful. I was not a happy camper! As I started to go to the front of the building, one of…

Saint Josephine Bakhita, the Patron Saint of Human Trafficking Victims

| January 27, 2020

Please remember all victims of human trafficking on February 8th, the Feast Day of St. Josephine Bakhita. Josephine Bakhita was born in Darfur Sudan in 1869. When she was seven, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders and, in the following eight years, was resold five times. She was so traumatized by the brutality of…

Take Back the Site Vigils

| January 21, 2020

Take Back the Site Vigils were started because of the murder of Anora Manus, a mother of five children. Since then, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, and the Sisters of Mercy have organized numerous vigils. The three communities work together to reclaim locations where murders have occurred for non-violence. The…

TAKE ACTION: refugee resettlement numbers

| January 21, 2020

The current administration has reduced the refugee resettlement program by 80% and set this year’s refugee admissions goal at 18,000, the lowest level in U.S. history. Given that there are more than 25 million refugees worldwide, more than half of whom are children, the dismantling of the resettlement program is unconscionable. Please call your Senator…

TAKE ACTION against Human Trafficking in PA

| January 17, 2020

PA highway signage is inadequate! Support PA House Bill 1513 “An act providing for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline Notification Act, imposing duties on the Department of Labor and Industry, and prescribing penalties.” Please contact PA Representative Jim Cox and ask him to work to hold hearings on House Bill 1513. On May…

PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE: (l-r) Eva Mastromatteo of Erie News Now interviews Stephanie Hall, SSJ Associate and Communications Director, and Nancy Fischer, SSJ, as part of a 5-part series during Catholic Sisters Week.