Sister Helen Patricia Mary Feeley, a Sister of Saint Joseph who worked in the Camden Diocese for nearly a decade, died Feb. 16.
Throughout her years of active ministry, Sister Pat served in the archdioceses of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Newark, and the dioceses of Allentown, Arlington and Trenton, as well as the Diocese of Camden. She taught elementary and secondary school students before moving into parish ministry as Director of Religious Education in five parishes.
An experienced DRE, she was hired by the Diocese of Camden as assistant director for Elementary Catechesis, a position she held for nine years.
For a short time Sister Pat served as a consultant for a book publisher and authored a religion text book.
Sister Pat’s parents, James Feeley and Anna Marie Mullaney, were Irish immigrants. They had seven children, four of whom lived into adulthood. The Feeley family’s life revolved around the activities at Holy Child Parish in the Logan section of Philadelphia.
In the spring of 1954, Pat applied to enter the Novitiate of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in Chestnut Hill. In his letter of recommendation to Mother Marie Estelle, the Novice Director, Msgr. C.K. McGinley, the pastor, stated “Her determination, under God, to become a sister was not suddenly arrived at. She has thought for many years of this step, and we, who have observed her life, have felt that she was appointed for such a vocation.”
On Sep. 8, 1954, Pat entered the Congregation and on April 11, 1955 she received the distinctive black habit and a new name, Sister Maria Infanta.
Sister Pat earned degrees in Elementary Education from Chestnut Hill College and a Master’s in Religious Studies from LaSalle College. She especially loved her time at LaSalle.
“I had a great life,” she said. ‘I enjoyed the world. I love the Church and have enjoyed my work in the Church and the community of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.”
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