Age 86
A gentle woman of a woman of deep faith and quiet confidence, Sister Anne humbly devoted her whole life to love and service.
Anne’s happy home life and elementary education at St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, instilled in her a deep love of God and all God’s people. She was a proud graduate of West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she met and was inspired by the Sisters of Mercy.
Responding to the call to religious life, Anne entered the Convent of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania, at the age of 19. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Gwynedd Mercy College (now Gwynedd Mercy University) in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa.
Initially, Anne taught elementary students for seven years in the Archdioceses of Philadelphia and Richmond, Virginia. She also served as principal at St. Alphonsus School in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania, for three years. Anne’s gifts were then directed toward guiding and encouraging new community members, in service as director of postulants and as a member of the formation team. Her example of kindness, prayerfulness, and witness to the vows of the consecrated life inspired many women during their years of formation and beyond.
Anne’s final ministry, spanning almost forty years, found her immersed in the wide expanse of parish ministry at Our Mother of Good Counsel in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Wherever there was a need, Anne gave her all. Whether preparing daily liturgies, providing spiritual care, leading outreach to the poor and homeless, tending the sick, or witnessing a passion for justice, Anne was a welcoming, merciful presence to all. Anne’s life was deeply rooted, firmly grounded, and faithfully lived in the fullness of God’s love and mercy.