CHERRY HILL – Sitting in a meeting room in the convent of the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception Provincialate-Novitiate, Sister Mieczyslawa Koczera explains the trust she’s developed with God during her past 50 years as a religious sister.
“It wasn’t easy to leave my family and country and learn another language, but I’m sure this is God’s way for me,” she says in her soft-spoken and joyful tone. “He’s been with me this whole time, so my vocation has not been too difficult to accept.”
“Sister Miecia,” as she is lovingly known, is among the religious women and men who are being recognized during this year’s World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. In the Diocese of Camden, Bishop Dennis Sullivan will celebrate a Mass on Feb. 3 at Church of the Holy Family in Sewell for religious marking milestones.
Currently working in pastoral care at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, Sister Miecia has called the convent on Cropwell Road her home for the last 24 years. Her journey to South Jersey, however, began in Poland in a devout Catholic household, where she was part of a family of deep faith.
“My parents took my brother, sister and I to weekly Mass, and we always prayed together, especially the Rosary,” she says.
When she was 17, a friend in high school asked her if she had ever thought about entering a religious order. “I told her no and that I thought maybe I would be a nurse or a teacher.”
Her classmate’s question sparked a curiosity, however. During her senior year, Sister Miecia attended two retreats at the Little Servant Sisters’ motherhouse, observing how the sisters lived and worked, “and developing a friendship with them,” she says.
Realizing after her visit that it was her calling to become a nun, she entered the convent Sept. 23, 1974, at age 19, and made her first vows in August 1976.
After final vows in 1981, she remained in Poland for the next 10 years to minister to the poor and catechize the youth.
In 1991, she was sent to the religious order’s mission in Mexico, where she also worked with the youth and poor while ministering to prisoners.
The year 2000 brought her to the Diocese of Camden and prison ministry. A year later, she moved to pastoral ministry at Cooper University Hospital. Five days a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays, seven hours each day, she visits the sick there, praying with them, listening to their stories and bringing Holy Communion. On Sundays and Mondays, she is on house duty at the convent, cooking and cleaning.
When explaining how she’s sustained such a dedicated and passionate ministry these past 50 years, she imparts three lessons she practices every day.
“Pray,” she says. “Every day, I need to renew my relationship with the Lord. Without prayer, I cannot transmit God’s love and mercy to others.” In prayer with her community, and in the solitude of the Blessed Sacrament, “I pray and ask God to increase my faith, for peace in my heart and for the special graces to do this work.”
The second lesson, “Be positive,” is followed closely by, “See God in each person,” which Sister Miecia says she remembers most on her hospital visits as she hears patients’ struggles and is constantly inspired by the faith they demonstrate through their illnesses.
These interactions, she says, “bring me closer to God. On difficult days, when she is tired, “I tell God I am here for him. I need to go to the hospital because people need Jesus.”
As the daughter of a Polish baker, it’s no surprise that Sister Miecia is following both her earthly and heavenly fathers in bringing bread to nourish the souls of others.
“I’m full of gratitude for my vocation, this gift from God,” she says.
Her gratefulness extends to her parents and family, “for their deep and devout religious life, for my religious community and for all the people God has put in my path.”
She will be present at the Mass with the Bishop and her community on Feb. 3, calling it an honor to be recognized. She hopes her presence – and that of all the religious in attendance – will spark curiosity for their vocation, just as it did for a young high-schooler five decades ago.
“I urge youth to pray and visit religious communities to see what they’re like,” she says. “I know who has called me, for whom I am here. I’ve never looked back.”
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