46 religious sisters, priests honored as they mark jubilees in consecrated life

PARSIPPANY  Sister of Charity Deborah Humphreys of Convent Station heeded some sage advice from her family early on as part of discerning religious life. “My grandmother said, ‘Join the convent and you’ll be happy.’ My father said, ‘Enter the convent and see the world.’ They were right,” the religious sister said.

Sister Deborah, celebrating 50 years as a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, spent more than 40 fulfilling years as a social worker in Newark and ministered in places around the world, such as Bolivia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Ireland.

On May 14, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney thanked her and 45 other religious sisters and priests celebrating milestone anniversaries in consecrated life for their service to the Church at the Diocese’s combined World Day for Consecrated Life and Religious Jubilee Mass in St. Ann Church here.

The main celebrant and homilist of the Mass, Bishop Sweeney, remarked that the jubilarians, who celebrated 25th, 50th, 60th, 65th, 75th, and 80th anniversaries, have given a combined 2,960 years of “loving, hopeful, and faithful service to the Church and God’s people.” For the Mass, the honored religious came from a variety of orders that serve the Diocese and beyond in a variety of distinct charisms and ministries, including education, healthcare, pastoral care, and mission work. At the Mass, they also renewed their commitment to consecrated life.

“Your blood, sweat, and tears, your generous hearts and your spirit of faith, hope and love that you have lived over all these years — only God knows the value of that witness: the lives you have touched, the children you have taught, the lonely you have accompanied, and the sick to whom you have ministered,” Bishop Sweeney told the jubilarians in his homily at the Mass.

“Over all these years, you also have witnessed to your own sisters and brothers in community in consecrated life with patience, forgiveness, and prayer,” the Bishop said.

At the end of Mass, Bishop Sweeney handed out certificates to the jubilarians in attendance, as Kerry Timony, administrative assistant to the chancellor and delegate to religious, announced the names of the honorees in attendance. Assisting the Bishop was Sister of Christian Charity Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious.

“Thank you for the fruit you have born in your friendship with Jesus. We celebrate you and thank you,” Bishop Sweeney said in his homily.

After the Mass, many in the congregation went to a luncheon reception in St. Ann’s hall.

There, Bishop Sweeney addressed those attending, noting that 2022 marks milestones for at least four religious communities in the Diocese. The Religious Teachers Filippini of the Province of St. Lucy Filippini are celebrating the 350th birthday of their founder, St. Lucy Filippini. The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as the Salesian Sisters, are celebrating 150 years of their founding. The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, known as the Trini­tarians, are marking the 100th anniversary of events that would lead to the founding of their community. On May 15, the day after the Mass, the Society of Divine Vocations, known as the Vocation­ists, celebrated Pope Francis’ canonization of its founder, Father Justin Maria Russolillo.

At the reception, Bishop Sweeney also said, in lieu of gifts for the jubilarians, the Diocese is making a financial contribution in the jubilarians’ names to the work of the Salesian Sisters in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland.

After the Bishop spoke, Sister Deborah told The Beacon she first was inspired to religious life by the Sisters of St. Joseph, who taught in a Catholic school that she attended in southern New Jersey. For more than 40 years, she ministered as a social worker at St. Columbia School in Newark.

“This is the life that I was meant to have,” said Sister Deborah, who also served as an adjunct professor of sociology at St. Elizabeth University in Convent Station. Currently, she is interviewing fellow sisters for a history project for the Sisters of Charity, she said.

One of the honorees for a quarter-century of service to the Church was Benedictine Father Anthony Sargent of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, who was a concelebrant of the Mass. Today, he lives outside the monastery to care for his legally blind mother, while serving the Sisters of Charity in Convent Station on weekends.

“Twenty-five years of living in community is a blessing,” Father Anthony said.

Celebrating 50 years of service, Sister of the Sorrowful Mother M. Juanita Williams of Denville told The Beacon that she felt the call to religious life in her native Grenada, encouraged by religious sisters, who taught her in school. She became a religious sister in the Caribbean nation and later came to the U.S. She studied at St. Elizabeth’s and Seton Hall University in South Orange. Today, Sister Juanita teaches children, who are unable to attend school in local public school districts.

“It [teaching] is fulfilling because of the feedback from students and parents,” said Sister Juanita, who also has ministered in different capacities in St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville and Morristown Memorial Medical Center. “We should serve all people, because they are God’s people, wherever we are and whatever we are doing,” she said.