RUNNEMEDE – As a seasoned Catholic school educator with more than 40 years of experience, Sister Santa Teresa, IHM, still gets first-day jitters. Just ask the new principal of Saint Teresa Regional School what her inaugural address will be to the school community, and she is quick to answer with a smile.
“It’s a little too soon for that. Right now, it’s called, ‘Get your nerves under control,’” she said with a laugh.
A South Philadelphia native, Sister Santa Teresa and her younger brother attended Saint Edmond School there, which was staffed by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“They were always so kind, so good to us; they cared about us,” she recalled. “Every day I saw their love [and] concern for us.”
She recalled an experience at the school when she was 6 years old that further demonstrated the sisters’ compassion.
“There were these big, heavy, heavy metal doors, and I was going in and somebody was coming out, and I got banged in the head with the door,” she said. “The first-grade teacher took her gold miraculous medal and put it on my head because it was cold. She made me stand there with her to make sure I was all right. I remember that story like it happened yesterday.”
As a religious sister, she has brought the IHM charism of love, hope and fidelity to elementary school students in Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia. Before arriving in Runnemede, she served as vice principal in Saint Monica School in South Philadelphia.
“Catholic education is my life [and] the only way youth are going to grow and mature,” she said. “I wouldn’t be in it for this long if I didn’t believe in it.”
Named Theresa when she was born, after one of her grandmothers – and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, “The Little Flower” – she added Santa, the first name of her other grandmother, when she became an IHM sister 48 years ago.
Sister Santa Teresa finds it providential to become the principal of a school whose namesake is this saint of simplicity and devotion, but she also has much devotion to Saint Teresa of Ávila, the Carmelite nun and mystic. She plans to urge the students to follow the two saints’ holy paths.
“I want to instill the faith in the children, and teach them that their goal in life is to become a saint,” she said. “That’s what Catholic education is preparing us for, to get to heaven. We do that by walking hand-in-hand with the Church and each other.”
Sister Santa Teresa said she also hopes to foster a culture of excitement and service. “I want students to jump out of bed, walk into these doors with smiles on their faces and be happy that they are here. I want students and parents to know that they are loved, that they are cared for [and] that we respect them.”
“I want children to look beyond themselves, and be aware of the needs [of the parish community],” Sister Santa Teresa said, adding that she is looking forward to collaborations between Holy Child Parish and the school.
Acknowledging her new journey, Sister Santa Teresa is confident she is right where she needs to be. “The Lord sends you to a place to touch people in the way He intends you to.”
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