Sister M. Beatrix Wieczorek, LSIC, 87, longtime pastoral care minister to the sick and elderly in the Diocese of Camden, died on Nov. 29 in Saint Joseph Nursing Home in Woodbridge.
Born with the name Janina on Feb. 4, 1938 in Lodz, Poland, her family felt the devastation of World War II, as her father was arrested, and died in a Nazi concentration camp. Next, Sister Beatrix and her two brothers were raised by her mother and grandmother.
After graduating from high school and working as a receptionist at a medical clinic to support her family, she entered the Congregation of the Little Servant Sisters at the Motherhouse in Stara Wieś, Brzozow County, in 1958, made her first profession of vows in 1961, and her final vows in 1964.
During her time as a second-year novice and temporary professed, she taught kindergarten in two schools staffed by the Sisters, and ministered as a catechist.
After her final vows, she studied nursing for two years, until 1965, and then worked at a nursing home in Lodz for the next decade, before making her way to the United States.
Learning the English language, receiving nursing degrees, and taking courses to qualify as an administrator, she served as a provincial councilor and superior in two communities.
She originally worked from St. Joseph Convent in Woodbridge, serving the sick in the Mount Carmel Visiting Nursing Service until 1983.
Sister next served at Saint Mary Nursing Home, Cherry Hill, where she worked as a charge nurse until 1988, and then as administrator from 1990 until 2010, after which she continued to provide pastoral care for residents.
With declining health, she lived in the community of the Provincialate in Cherry Hill until 2019, and for the last six years of her life, she was a resident of St. Joseph Nursing home.
In announcing her death, her religious community remembered her not only as a “compassionate, caring nurse,” but “a joyful religious…ready to welcome all members of society.”
A Mass of Christian Burial took place on Dec. 4 at Saint Joseph’s Assisted Living Chapel, Woodbridge. Interment followed at Saint Joseph Cemetery, Blackwood.
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