Maria Assumpta Ruza, SSJ 70 Years

Home Parish:     Holy Family, Erie
Entered Sisters of St. Joseph:     1955
Final Profession: 1961 

Sister Maria Assumpta Ruza says she knew since second grade at Holy Family School that she wanted to be a Sister. The prayerfulness of the Franciscan Sisters in the school always impressed her, and one of the Sisters told her that she had the qualities to be a good Sister. In her senior year, she began spiritual direction. Sister Maria Assumpta entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on August 31, 1955, from Holy Family Parish in Etie and professed her final vows on August 15, 1961.  She attended Holy Family Elementary School and graduated from Villa Maria Academy in 1955. She then received a BS in Elementary Education in 1968 from Villa Maria College.

She volunteered at Multi-Cultural Health Evaluation Delivery System (MHEDS), a joint project of the Diocesan Mission Office and the Erie Council of Churches that assists medically underserved neighbors in northwest Pennsylvania. She ministered as a teacher at Our Lady of Peace School in Erie. She also taught at St. Agatha School in Meadville, Pennsylvania; St. Leo School in Ridgway, Pennsylvania; St. Mary’s School in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania; and taught CCD at St. Francis in Bradford, Pennsylvania. She also ministered at Sisters of St. Joseph Rosary Hall as a Nurse Aide and worked as a Communications Department Aide at Villa Maria College. She was Assistant Sacristan at the sisters’ motherhouse near downtown Erie and at the Sisters’ Community Living Center in Millcreek for more than 25 years. She was involved in religious education at St. Francis Parish in Bradford, PA, and was a supervisor in religious education for several parishes in Houtzdale, Pennsylvania.

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