sisters jubilees

Women Religious Celebrate Jubilees

HERALD Staff Report
(From the Issue of 5/17/07) jubilees

A prioress, the directress of a U.S. mission, and the first American vocation to the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales are among the group of women religious celebrating milestone anniversaries this year. The annual Sisters Jubilee Mass was celebrated by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at Marymount University’s Chapel May 10. Among the sisters celebrating jubilees this year are:

60 Years
Benedictine Sister Andrea Verchuck, grew up in Crabtree, Pa., and entered the Benedictine Sisters when she was 15. She professed her first monastic vows at St. Benedict Monastery in Bristow in 1947. Sr. Andrea has worked in the Arlington and Richmond dioceses as a teacher, principal and guidance counselor. She served as prioress of the community from 1979-1987 and from 1999-2003. Sr. Andrea currently lives in St. Gertrude Convent in Richmond where she is part of the community formation team, and the director of mission effectiveness for St. Gertrude High School.
Benedictine Sister Mary Leo Wirt, grew up in Richmond, and entered the Benedictine order in 1944. She professed her first monastic vows at St. Benedict Monastery in Bristow in 1947. Sr. Mary Leo taught elementary school in the Arlington and Richmond dioceses, and taught four years at St. Gertrude High School in Richmond. She also was responsible for purchasing items for the community for much of the last 30 years. Sr. Mary Leo is spending her retirement years making baskets and other crafts for the sisters’ annual Christmas sale.
50 Years
Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales Sister Mary Vincent Kowalewski, was born March 18, 1930, in Wilmington, Del. She entered the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales in Childs, Md., May 1, 1955, and was the order’s first American vocation. She professed her first vows Dec. 9, 1956, and her perpetual vows Dec. 9, 1961. Sr. Mary Vincent has taught preschool and kindergarten in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. She also served as local superior and mistress of novices in the United States and England.
Sister Mary Vincent’s vocation was one of four in her immediate family. Her brother, Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father John Kowalewski, is a priest in Childs, Md. Another brother, Fr. Vincent Kowalewski, also an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, passed away in 2000. Sister Mary Vincent’s sister, Visitation Nun Mother Mary Jozefa Kowalewski, lives in Snellville, Ala.
Sister Mary Vincent is currently stationed at St. Mary Parish in Fredericksburg, and teaches religion and French to elementary school students at Holy Cross Academy.
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sister Noel Loughlin, grew up on Long Island, N.Y. She attended St. Vincent’s Hospital nursing school in New York City, and worked as an operating room nurse before leaving to work as a nurse at Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y. While at Marymount, Sister Noel earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and discerned a call to the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. She came to Marymount University in Arlington in 1972, and spent 25 years teaching in the nursing department. During that same time, Sister Noel also earned a master’s degree in nursing from the Catholic University of America and a doctorate from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati.
25 Years
Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette Sister Maria Josephine S. Valenton, grew up in the Philippines as the oldest of nine children. She earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce, concentrating in auditing and accounting, and worked for two years as an external auditor for an accounting firm before entering the Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette May 31, 1979. Sister Marijo, as she is known, said her uncle, a retired priest currently living in San Jose, Calif., inspired her vocation with his own faithful dedication to his priesthood. Sister Marijo professed her first vows Feb. 2, 1982, and her final vows May 31, 1990, in the Philippines.
Before coming to the United States, she taught religion and worked as religion coordinator, guidance counselor and high school coordinator in La Salette schools in the Diocese of Isabela. She served her community as junior directoress until she was reassigned to La Salette mission in the United States. Sister Marijo is currently director of her order’s U.S. mission, and works in hospital ministry, what she calls her hidden dream, at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales Sister Frances Carol Eder, was born Sept. 17, 1955, in Elkton, Md. She entered the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales in Childs, Md., Dec. 8, 1980, professed her first vows Sept. 11, 1982, and professed her perpetual vows Aug. 28, 1987. Sister Frances Carol has taught kindergarten through seventh grade, and has worked in high school and college youth ministry. Two of her sisters also joined the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales — Sister Anne Elizabeth, and Sister Susan Louise who is stationed at St. Mary Parish in Fredericksburg with her. Sister Frances Carol currently teaches middle school science and religion at Holy Cross Academy and serves as her community’s local superior.