In her 76 years as a Missionary Servant of the Blessed Trinity, Sister Joan Lorraine Kreutz has seen, and been part of, history. She’s also made, history, too.
She was good friends with Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman.
She taught students on two Native American reservations.
She attended the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
And as a Catholic school principal in the post-Civil Rights Movement era, she hired the first Black woman at her Mississippi school.
Today, at age 94, she serves as a volunteer at Rosebud Academy Preschool in Barrington. After 75 years of teaching, she says, “I feel so thankful to God for everywhere I’ve been. It’s all been wonderful, every day.”
Missionary Prep
Elizabeth Ann Kreutz was born Jan. 27, 1931, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Florence and William Kreutz, a housekeeper and mechanic, respectively. She was the second of five children, following Lorraine, and before William, and twins David and Vincent.
The family lived in Howard Beach, “a short trip through the weeds,” she explains, to their home parish and school, Our Lady of Grace. Daily Mass and prayer, reception of the sacraments, and Holy Hours were a fixture in her household.
“During World War II, we would go up to the second floor, on our hands and knees in the hallway, and pray for peace,” Sister Joan Lorraine recalls.
Small wonder, then, that when 11-year-old Lorraine started going to the local cenacle gatherings of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity, 9-year-old Elizabeth wanted to come along.
Every other Saturday, the sisters would join other youth in acts of charity, such as making gifts for orphans, and social outings to the shrine to Mother Cabrini and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, among others. They learned the motto of the cenacle: “Be Good, Do Good, Be a Power for Good.”
More works of charity followed for the future religious sister, including visiting the homes of immigrant Spanish youth, teaching them the faith and preparing them for the sacraments.
In Summer 1948, while in high school at Our Lady of Wisdom Academy, she was invited by the sisters to their motherhouse in Philadelphia. There, she spent three weeks that included religion classes, lessons on census-taking, and how to minister to children.
“All of these things prepared me to be a better missionary,” she says.
Experiences in the South
She still remembers the moment when she knew God was calling her as a religious. “I was in study hall, a sophomore, and I felt the presence of the Lord saying to me, ‘I want you to enter.’”
After graduating high school four years later, in January 1949, she spent six months as an accountant at a phone company, before entering the religious community at the Philadelphia motherhouse. There, she studied as a postulant for six years, and novice for one year, before making her first vows on March 25, 1951, and taking the name Sister Joan Lorraine.
She went on to witness, and was a conduit of, moments of societal change.
Her first stop was at an all-Black school, Blessed Martin de Porres, in Gadsden, Ala. She taught second grade for a year at the school, which was segregated. She returned to Alabama in 1959, teaching for 10 years at Saint Peter Claver in the town of Holy Trinity.
Looking back on that time, she recalls a memory when a young boy didn’t show up for an exam. Concerned, she decided to pay him a house visit.
“I asked the principal for the wagon, and I took it to the boy’s home, where he was shucking peas. I then proceeded to shuck the peas for the family, while his mother got him dressed. I then took him to the school for an exam,” she says.
During her time in Holy Trinity – a town that, at the time, saw many families living in homes with no running water and minimal sources of electricity – Sister Joan Lorraine also encountered Sister Bowman.
In Sister Joan Lorraine’s first year at Saint Peter Claver, the now-Servant of God visited the school. Sister Joan Lorraine remembers being captivated by Sister Bowman’s energetic speech, and celebration of culture, music and faith.
So began three decades of friendship between the two women.
Sister Bowman would return to Holy Trinity many years later to speak to the graduating class at Saint Peter Claver, which by then had been renamed Saint Joseph School. Sister Joan Lorraine was now principal.
“She was so welcoming, friendly and open. A truly delightful person to know,” Sister Joan Lorraine remembered of the first U.S. Black Catholic woman on the road to sainthood. Sister Bowman died in 1990.
Living History
Sister Joan Lorraine also recalls attending the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who she considered a spiritual hero. She and a group of friends traveled to Atlanta on April 9, 1968, to be among the masses who lined the streets in mourning the civil rights activist.
“It meant a lot to be there,” she says. “He was always peaceful, and inspired to do good for peace.”
She would go on to teach about Dr. King in her classes, lifting him up as an example “to help people understand the good things that everyone can do.”
In addition, while principal at Annunciation in Kiln, Miss., (1969-1978), she hired the first Black woman at the school.
“I wouldn’t tell anyone about it until two weeks before school started,” she recalls. “The children fell in love with her. She was a marvelous teacher.”
Sister Joan Lorraine also speaks fondly of the Chinese community she ministered to at Holy Redeemer in Philadelphia (1952-1954), many of whom she still keeps in contact with today. Just recently, the community recognized her for her 70-plus years as a Catholic religious.
She would go on to teach children of Native American heritage, first with the Choctaw Indians in Tucker, Miss. (1983-1988), and then with the Jicarilla Apaches in Lumberton, N.M. (1997-2000).
Bringing Others to Christ
Since 2017, she has been a part of the Rosebud community, teaching religion to seven classes consisting of 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds. She lives in her religious community’s convent next door.
“It’s the most wonderful little school,” she says with a smile.
In the mornings, she leads the community in morning prayer. While with the students, she teaches them the stories of the saints, and calls the youngsters to follow in their footsteps.
Fern Love, director of Rosebud Academy Preschool, which is a part of Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Haddon Heights, notes, “Sister Joan has an impact not only in our day-to-day life, but in showing us who we can be to each other.”
The indefatigable Sister Joan Lorraine Kreutz, MSBT, remains “a power for good,” and continues to guide others in being the same.
“I tell my students, ‘Remember, you are the apostle for today. You must go out and tell people about Jesus. Figure out what you can do to bring Jesus to others,’” she says.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that I’ve been able to teach children, tell children, about Jesus.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
