It is not the quantity of time that a person spends at a location, but the quality of the interactions that they have there which makes a lasting impression.
On Sunday, April 28, at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Warren, a reception was held for Sister Mary Beata and Sister Marie Michelle, members of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate, who are returning to Marycrest, their mother house in Monroe, New York, after less than two years serving Warren parishes.
Speaking on their departure, Father Christopher Cicero said, “We bid farewell to two of four of our beloved Parish Visitor sisters.”
He continued, “Sister Beata came to Warren in late 2021 for a three-month mission and returned in October 2022. Sister Marie Michelle came to Warren as a postulant in 2022. In 2023, she entered the novitiate and began her apostolic formation.”
“On a personal level, they will be missed,” said Rose Fenstermaker of Warren. “I had a hip replacement and the sisters came to my home. They brought me food. We prayed together.”
Sister Mary Beata, who was the local superior at the Warren convent, will direct Sister Marie Michelle’s canonical year of her novitiate at the mother house.
Sister Debra Marie and Sister Alina Marie remain at Our Lady of Providence Convent on the parish grounds in Warren as part of the perpetual mission.
“The perpetual mission is that the sisters will remain at the convent and continue their apostolic work in parishes. They work in religious education, evangelization, young adult ministry, vocation awareness and adult faith formation. The sisters are staying here. Two of the four have changed their assignments but the sisters are here on a continuous basis. It is an ongoing, open-ended mission,” said Father Cicero.
Another sister from the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate will be assigned to the Warren parishes as local superior and reside in Our Lady of Providence Convent on the grounds of Blessed Sacrament parish.
Parishioners of Blessed Sacrament, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Mary & St. Joseph parishes plus students from JFK Lower campus waited patiently in line to thank the sisters for their good work at their parishes and school, and to wish them well with their new assignments.
Some of the people in the congregations mentioned that when Sister Beata walked the halls, there was a calm effect and a feeling of spirituality just by her being there.
As Sister Mary Beata and Sister Marie Michelle embark on their new assignments, they know that their time in Warren made a difference in many people’s lives as they did God’s will.
