A number of Felician Sisters at Villa Maria are celebrating milestones this year – 50th, 60th, 70th, 75th and even 80th anniversaries of committed religious life.
Sisters who celebrated their 75th anniversary include Sister Mary Ezechielle Szczepanski, Sister Mary Carissma Kociolowicz, and Sister Mary Adorata Pawlak. Celebrating their 70th anniversary were Sister Mary Celestine Mysliwiec, Sister Mary Hope Zalewski, Sister Mary Marcilia Slomka, Sister Mary Rosette Kubisty, and Sister Mary Sabinie Boczar. Celebrating her 60th anniversary is Sister Mary Teresita Langowski. Sisters to celebrate their 50th anniversary include Sister Mary Kevin Szeluga, Sister Paula Marie Skalski, Sister Maureen Helak, Sister Mary Louis Rustowicz, Sister Mary Ambrose Wozniak, and Sister Mary Raymond Kasprzak.
I was fortunate to interview four of them this week. They included Sister Mary Lauretta Lepkowski of Erie, PA who was the only one from her class to celebrate her 80th anniversary this year. I also met with Sister Mary Rachel Krauza of Erie, PA, Sister Mary Doloria Piorkowski of Erie, PA, and Sister Emily Marie Jurecki of Syracuse, all who were celebrating their 70th anniversary in the church.
Sister Mary Lauretta Lepkowski, now 97, explained in detail how she decided to enter the convent and the highlights of her years of service with details so clear that you would think it happened yesterday.
In fact, all four sisters shared their life stories with a smile on their face and a clear mind full of their experiences over the past seven or eight decades. It was evident that even today the thought of committing their life to helping students, the poor, the elderly, and the rest of the community brings a smile to the Felician Sisters’ faces.
Amazingly, Sister Mary Rachel, Sister Mary Doloria, and Sister Emily Marie Jurecki knew each other before they even entered the convent. Sister Mary Doloria and Sister Mary Rachel were two of eight who came from the same classroom in their hometown of Erie to become a Felician Sister that same year. Although their anniversary counts up from age 18 the two said their minds were well set well before then. Sister Mary Rachel said, “We had influences from our parents, the parish, we were very close to the nuns. Our whole life centered around the church. We attended Catholic schools where the nuns were teaching and they were great teachers.”
Sister Mary Rachel and Sister Emily Marie also knew each other far before their decision to enter the convent because they were first cousins. Sister Emily Marie however talks of her decision to enter the convent as a rather spontaneous choice yet a decision she would never regret making. She said, “On high school graduation night I remember being on stage and I said to somebody I think I want to be a nun.... I had a fun summer and on the spur of the moment, it was a Sunday at the end of August, they called me and said ‘Did you say you want to be a nun?’ I said yes and they said there was a car leaving Sunday if I wanted to come with them. Monday I enjoyed myself and had a good time. Tuesday I bought stuff that I would need and Wednesday I left to become a Felician Sister.”
The beginning of the journey
The four sisters explained their particular journey that began for the three in 1938 and for Sister Mary Lauretta in 1928. Their anniversary of religious life is numbered from the first year after high school when they start to commit themselves to the church as a postulant. As a postulant they were able to decide if the convent was the right place for them and they began to teach children at the local Catholic schools in the area.
At the end of that year they entered the second stage and became a novice. Sister Emily Marie said, “This was our preparation for a religious life. We were being trained and had no contact with the family that year. We had each other.”
After a year of being a novice they entered the cloister. The sisters had absolutely no contact with anybody outside the order. It was a year dedicated to concentrating on a religious life. They focused on learning the rules of the Felicians and studying and memorizing the rules before they made their religious vows.
For the next six years the sisters were still considered in preparation for becoming a Felician Sister. They made their vows based on the three virtues of chastity, obedience, and poverty and renewed them every year.
After the six years, they went away during two of the summer months to prepare to make their perpetual vows. They had a mistress that trained them during what is considered to be the most serious step of the process. At the end of the two months they were officially done with their training to be a sister. They made their perpetual vows and were immediately sent off to work the assignments they were given.
Teaching assignments
Sister Mary Lauretta has spent a great deal of her time in the classroom teaching at schools such as Sacred Heart, and Villa Maria. She served 20 years of administration work at St. Amelia’s elementary school in Tonawanda. She also spent time more recently working in social services by helping out in hospitals, nursing homes, and other places where she was needed. Sister Mary Lauretta said, “I’ve had challenges all my life. It is difficult to say what was the most rewarding part of my time because I love my work. I’m thinking of all the children I taught. I want to see them in heaven. I have something to pray for. I also have enjoyed talking to and helping the elderly people.”
Sister Mary Doloria started her religious service teaching in Buffalo and was soon sent to schools in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and later back to Buffalo again.
She pointed out how much she loved her teachers who influenced her to become a Felician Sister and their love of God. She said, “I enjoy prayer life and I thank God every day he chose me to become a Felician Sister.”
Sister Emily Marie has taught grades 5 through 12. From 1992 to 1995 she was sent to Poland to teach young Polish nuns how to speak English. She continued to teach in the local area grades 5 to 12 upon her return.
“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl,” said Sister Emily Marie. “I’ve never waked up in the morning and said ‘I don’t want to teach today.’”
Sister Mary Rachel has spent her years at seven elementary schools in the area. She also spent about 30 years in Canada where she worked in social service, and taught several forms of education including teaching religion and the sacraments to children, teaching Polish at parishes, and working as a principal. She was later called back home where she was asked to prepare the next generation and spent more years teaching and working in administration locally.
“I am so thankful for the opportunities that were given to me to help develop my spirituality,” says Sister Mary Rachel. “As the years go by I continue to get a deeper and deeper understanding. I have gained a good relationship with my teenage students throughout the years and to this day I have students writing and calling me and this is very rewarding.”
Changing times
While all four Sisters have spent a great deal of their religious service preparing the next generation of Catholics, the question came up, what was to happen in a world that was now so different from the religious life they entered a good 70 and 80 years ago? All four sisters remain convinced that the Catholic religion will remain intact. While critics say the religion is in danger of extinction, the sisters said they believe it will always live; it will just be constantly evolving.
Sister Emily Marie pointed out that some of the tasks that they could never do are now accessible to the younger generation. For example, giving out communion is one service out of many that the laity can now perform.
Sister Emily Marie said, “You people are like the sisters now. You are doing what we are doing. It was predicted that the laity will be taking over the jobs the sisters are doing. I believe that religious life will continue on in a completely different form from now. In the modern generation different things appeal to them.
“We came from very Catholic families and these new generations do not come from this background. The needs of the church are changing. We don’t need sisters as much for teaching anymore because there are teachers all over the place…. The younger generation are the people who are going to continue what we give them. The church will always exist and the youth of today is the church of tomorrow.”