From community gardens to the environment, sisters fulfill various missions

Sister Sheila Carney chuckles when she recalls the day a few years ago her Sisters of Mercy were urged to call the White House to weigh in on an issue that stood to benefit Western Pennsylvania’s poor.

“One of our older sisters sat down and dialed the number,” Carney said. “(Each time) after she’d hang up, she’d dial it again and again. Finally, the frustrated receptionist who was logging the calls asked, ‘Just how many sisters do you have back there in Pittsburgh?’ ”

It’s just one example, Carney said, of sisters who aren’t sitting around mourning their rapidly declining numbers but instead are actively engaged in continuing their missions of service to their communities.

For some, that work can take them hundreds of miles from home.

Sister Barbara Ann Smelko, director of vocations for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, said one of her fellow sisters is an attorney whose work on complex immigration issues takes her to New York and New Jersey.

And the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, Beaver County, founded Casa San Jose — the House of St. Joseph — in Pittsburgh in 2013 and continue to work with the staff there to support Latino immigrants in the area.

Throughout the nation and the world, sisters have stepped up to aid immigrants, including the new wave created by the war in Ukraine.

Like the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of St. Joseph plant sustainable community gardens. They also maintain beehives, make honey and soap, and grow produce that is shared with neighbors as well as the local food bank.

“In our area, where food insecurity is increasing among children, this is important work,” Sister Sharon Costello said.

Although the sisters have occasionally run afoul of conservative church leaders, many have become political activists, making their voices heard in the halls of state and national power.

Earlier this month, dozens of sisters from several orders joined forces with local environmentalists at Allegheny Landing in Pittsburgh to offer a special liturgy of Thanksgiving for clean water before clearing trash and vowing to oppose new efforts that would harm the rivers.

Sister Mary Parks, a former TV journalist who left secular life to join the Sisters of St. Joseph three decades ago, views it as her duty to tackle environmental issues on behalf of the world’s children.

“We don’t have children and grandchildren, but all children are ours,” she said. “We can’t fail them.”

Although their numbers are smaller than in years past, their messages are being heard.

“Their impact is enormous. It is so immeasurable in the institutions they’ve created,” said Maureen O’Brien, associate professor of theology and director of pastoral ministry at Duquesne University. “What I find remarkable and inspiring in these changing times is the way they are transitioning and continuing to share of themselves and their resources.”

Older sisters use traditional methods to spread their message, but many younger ones have taken to social media. They use the hashtag #medianuns to discuss everything from life inside their orders to their journey to becoming sisters to their takes on the Academy Awards to their picks for the Super Bowl to their ideas about what women really want for Valentine’s Day.

Some use Twitter to answer questions from those pondering life in a religious order.

For those unsure of what order to join, there is online help available through a service resembling a dating app. Users are asked to complete a questionnaire and then are provided a list of religious orders that are considered good matches.

The service available at VocationMatch.com asks, among other things, about whether visitors are single, married or divorced, their level of education, whether they are willing to relocate and if they are interested in an order in which they would be required to wear a habit or one where they could wear street clothes.

For all sisters, regardless of whether they have served for decades or are just beginning their religious journey, they agree the times dictate using whatever means possible to deliver their message and complete their mission work.

“These times offer so many options for women religious,” said Elizabeth McGill, 37, who is midway through her journey to becoming an Immaculate Heart of Mary sister. “We can be nimble enough to respond to needs of refugees and immigrants. And many women religious are leading efforts in climate change.

“What a wonderful time to enter with this wonderful pool of wisdom of these strong women who entered at 18, who are inspired and filled with wisdom.”