In loving Memory

Sister Mary Angelita Molina was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, one of 11 children born to Maria Medina and Eduardo Molina. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Millvale, Pennsylvania, in 1958. A gifted seamstress, Sister Angelita spent hours in the convent sewing room during her novitiate, creating the intricate habits the sisters wore at the time. 

She earned a BA in Elementary Education and spent 12 years as a teacher in primary grades in Puerto Rico. In 1974, she attended Fordham University and graduated with an MA in Religious Education. She was a Director of Religious Education and an Associate Director of Evangelization in New Mexico and Oklahoma parishes. While ministering in Oklahoma City, Sister Angelita met two Sisters from Nigeria who had come to the U.S. to study. After hearing of the needs of the Nigerian people, Sister Angelita felt called to minister in Africa.

Her desire to pursue missionary work led her to apply to The Center for Mission Studies at Maryknoll, New York, in 1988. After finishing the program at the Cross-Cultural Ministry, she began a special 15-year ministry in Nigeria, Diocese of Benin City. From 1989-2004, Sister Angelita lived and worked with the people of Nigeria, serving as the Director of Evangelization and much more. She helped build a well for the people in her neighborhood; she built a school with a meeting hall and a skating rink for the town’s children. To help women start their own businesses, she taught them the art of batik/tie-dye on cloth. Sister Angelita wrote about her departure from Nigeria in 2004, “God gave me the dream. I looked at it and embraced it, and only by God’s grace I fulfilled that dream to the best of my abilities. Goodbye, Africa.”

Sister Angelita returned to Pittsburgh for a year, then ministered in Mississippi and South Carolina before again returning to Pittsburgh. She shared her sewing skills in each area, teaching Nigerian women and Navajo women in New Mexico to sew by hand. She spent part of 2008 in Hawaii and wrote her book “My 15 Years in Nigeria.” 

Always the missionary, Sister Angelita will be remembered for engaging people wherever she was in talking about the Lord. 

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Sister Helen was the first child born to Carmelo and Alfonsa Buscarino in Racalmuto, Sicily. She was baptized in La Chiesa di Maria Sanctissima del Monte Carmelo on May 11, 1924. When she was two months old, her family immigrated to Canada before relocating to the West Side of Buffalo, New York. There her family became members of Holy Cross Parish, where she was introduced to the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Divine Child.

After graduating Valedictorian from Hutchinson Central High School, Sister Helen entered the Franciscan Missionary Sisters in 1942. She was a member of that community for 62 years; in 2004, the Divine Child Sisters merged with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. 

Sister Helen earned a B.S. in Education in 1951, an M.S. in Education in 1954 and M.A. in Religious Studies in 1980. She ministered as a teacher and principal for 54 years and was a catechist, Director of Religious Education, missionary and pastoral associate. 

Sister is primarily known for advocating for social justice, a passion she first developed when ministering in Brazil. “I saw people dying of starvation digging into garbage pails,” she said. “It broke my heart.” 

When she returned to the United States, she ministered as Director of Religious Education at St. John the Baptist in Lockport, New York, where she served migrant workers working at the local farms. She said that when the weather was poor, the migrants couldn’t work, and when they didn’t work, they didn’t eat. With just a few dollars, Sister Helen started a food pantry that is still in existence today. “Sister Helen’s Food Pantry,” named in her honor and beautiful, caring spirit, offers food, clothing and household items to those in need.

While at St. John’s, Sister Helen joined the parish Peace and Justice Committee after seeing a migrant woman deported back to Mexico, leaving three children behind. She continued her social justice advocacy for the rest of her life. Sister never liked the idea of retiring and began ministering as a pastoral care associate at age 75. She also visited nursing home residents until 2014. 

Along with her work in social justice and care for the poor, Sister Helen will be remembered as an avid Buffalo Bills fan, a world traveler, a classical music lover and one who greatly enjoyed visiting with family and friends.

Sister Carleen Marie Stengel was born in Buffalo, New York, the youngest and only girl of five children. She attended Bishop O’Hern High School, where the Sisters of St. Francis taught her. She credited the Sisters’ lifestyle and friendly attitude and her parents’ strong faith for her vocation. She joined the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in 1956.

For 46 years, Sister taught at various schools sponsored by her community. Her special love was teaching Junior High students; for several years, she taught 7^th grade at St. Aloysius Regional School in Springville, New York. She felt it was challenging and gratifying to be part of the lives of these young people and motivate them to achieve higher goals.

As well as St. Aloysius, Sister Carleen also taught at Infant of Prague, Cheektowaga; St. Francis of Assisi, Tonawanda; St. Mary’s, Swormville; Most Holy Redeemer, Buffalo; and Fourteen Holy Helpers, Gardenville. She also spent time visiting the sick and homebound and assisting her fellow Sisters at Fredonia Place of Williamsville.

Sister Carleen loved to travel and read. She will be remembered as an avid sports fan, especially for the Buffalo Bills, and her many hobbies, which included outdoor activities like cross country skiing, swimming, ice skating, hiking and canoeing.

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Sister Catherine was born at the height of the Great Depression. Living on Pittsburgh’s South Side, she grew up in a community of mostly immigrant families who found work in the mills and factories that dotted the banks of the Monongahela River.

At St. Casimir’s High School, she met the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God. She cared for ailing family members for nearly a decade before entering the congregation in 1959. After professing her final vows in 1966, Sister Catherine engaged in a mosaic of ministries for the next 50 years.

Sister Catherine’s teaching service took her from Pittsburgh to Kearney, New Jersey and Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She later changed to nursing and joined the Good Samaritan sisters at Mt. Vernon. After that, she spent two decades in Pittsburgh as a psychiatric nurse in the Western Psychiatric Institute, Mercy Hospital, the Allegheny County Jail and the Western Penitentiary.

Sister Catherine then volunteered to spend a year in Assela, Ethiopia, working at the mission of the Consolata Fathers. There she not only experienced the culture shock of third-world poverty, but she also endured the stress of living in politically dangerous situations.

When she returned to the United States, Sister Catherine became the manager of the St. Francis Academy property; The Academy had been closed but clearing the building’s furnishings became Sister’s full-time employment. She also helped organize the convent infirmary. 

In the following decade, Sister Catherine returned to her work as a business professional. She assisted Fr. Richard Conboy, St. Bonaventure University president, the Chaplain of the Felician Sisters and finally, the business office of her own community of sisters.

In 2009, Sister Catherine and several other Sisters transferred to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. She continued to serve until frail health forced her to retire to prayer ministry.

Sister Catherine will be remembered for living her Franciscan duty — ministering to those in need wherever the need is greatest — and her flexibility in ministry duties.  

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Sister Candida was born Soledad Maria Oroc in Makaweli, Kauai, Hawaii. She graduated from St. Francis Convent School and entered the Sisters of St. Francis on September 8, 1950. She received the Franciscan habit and her religious name on March 1, 1951 and made her Final Profession of Vows on August 1, 1955.

Sister earned a B.A. from Chaminade College, an M.S. in Education from the University of Hawaii, and an M.A. in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure University, Olean, New York. She later studied Clinical Pastoral Education and was certified as a hospital chaplain.

Sister Candida’s ministry from 1952 to 1984 was in Catholic school education as a teacher and principal. In Hawaii, she served at St. Joseph School, Hilo, Our Lady of Good Counsel School, Pearl City, and Sacred Heart School, Lahaina. She served on the staff of the Hawaii Catholic Schools Department for four years, then began 23 years of chaplaincy in the Spiritual Services Department at St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. Sister’s final years included Residential Supervision at Marianne Hall and Prayer Ministry at St. Francis Convent, Manoa, and the Plaza in Kaneohe.

Sister Candida will be remembered for her love of and devotion to God and her birth and Franciscan families. 

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Sister Miriam Anthony was born Francis Marie in Albany, New York. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York, in 1951 and invested with the Franciscan habit a year later when she took the name, Miriam Anthony.

Sister Miriam received a Normal Degree (New York State colleges before SUNY System were ‘normal’ schools). Soon after, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Studies from LeMoyne College. She also completed an intensive program in Education Administration at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkhill, New York and a National Leadership Workshop at SUNY Plattsburgh, New York.

Sister spent all but two years of her 51 years ministering in education in New York State, starting at St Joseph’s School in Utica, New York and ministering in Syracuse, Cohoes, East Syracuse and Mattydale New York. Sister spent her last 20 years in education as principal at St. Margaret’s in Mattydale. Following her 2004 retirement, Sister continued to serve her community as an administrative assistant in the community’s Development Office and as a receptionist in the congregation’s main office. 

Sister Miriam Anthony will be remembered for her smile, energy, enthusiasm as a principal, and dedication to the Franciscan way of life. Students remember her as a firm but fair teacher and school administrator who loved the children under her care. 

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Sister Helen entered the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 19. She ministered in education for 44 years, teaching in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Illinois. She also served as principal in Illinois and New Jersey. She left teaching in 1996 but remained active and served in diverse ministries.

As a Franciscan woman, Sister Helen believed in serving where she was needed. In 2009, she was welcomed into the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. When she arrived in her new home at Mt. Alvernia in Millvale, Pennsylvania, Sister Helen immediately offered to help in any way. In a rare moment of quiet reflection, she told a friend that she wanted to grow and be more prayerful.

Sister Helen was an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Her sisters in community will remember Sister Helen as a woman of action who spent her life serving others.

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Sister Mary Ancilla Yim had been a Sister of St. Francis for 73 years at the time of her death at 95 years old. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and educated at Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu. Sister also attended the University of Hawaii and received her B.S. in Education from the University of Dayton, Ohio, and her M.S. in Library Science at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

A faithful follower of Jesus Christ and St. Francis of Assisi, Sister Ancilla generously used her God-given talents and abilities throughout her life as a teacher-assistant, teacher, librarian, superior, vice-principal, principal, guidance counselor, catechist, social worker, receptionist, volunteer, and prayer minister, particularly in central New York at St. Paul Parish, Whitesboro, Oswego Catholic High School, Oswego, Maria Regina College and St. Daniel School, Syracuse; in Washington, D.C. at Duns Scotus House of Studies; in Hawaii at St. Joseph School, Hilo, St. Francis School and St. Francis Convent, Manoa. Sister participated in many organizations, including the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Supervision and Curriculum Development Association, the Catholic School Association of Administrators in New York, the American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Although Sister Ancilla retired in 2003, she continued to be involved with the Sisters of St. Francis’s activities, especially in the prayer ministry and the community’s events and programs.

A highlight in her life was her Golden Jubilee of 50 years as a Franciscan Sister when she shared:  The first ‘gold’ in my memory is my non-Catholic mother who affirmed me in my religious vocation. After making a year’s novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, I made a trip to the mainland U.S., Canada, and Mexico at the suggestion of my mother. That tour would begin the week my novena ended. It became the answer to prayer to be a Syracuse Franciscan Sister. Two significant persons in my vocation besides my family were Sister Mary Esther Kanaha (a family friend) and Mother Viola Kiernan, my first superior in Hilo, who guided and inspired me throughout my years. They and all the Sisters of St. Francis in my life formed the ‘gold’ nuggets of my life.”

Sister Ancilla will be remembered for her Christlike example, prayerfulness, community-mindedness, and willingness and availability to be of service.

Click here to make a gift in memory of Sister Ancilla Yim