Women religious celebrating jubilees renew their vows before Bishop Joseph Galante during Mass on World Day for Consecrated Life at Holy Family Church, Sewell, on Feb. 2.
Photo by Alan M. Dumoff, more photos ccdphotolibrary.smugmug.com
The World Day for Consecrated Life was celebrated at Church of the Holy Family in Sewell on Feb. 2, and honored women religious in the Diocese of Camden who are celebrating 60, 50, and 25 years of service to the Catholic Church.
Bishop Joseph Galante presided over the liturgy and served as homilist, and Father Robert Hughes, chancellor of the diocese and pastor of Holy Family, was the main celebrant.
The 10 jubilarians stood before the bishop and renewed their vows and committed themselves “anew to serve (the) church in the ministry entrusted to me by my institute.”
The Jubilarians celebrating 60 years are Sister Rosemary Powers, RSM; Sister Mary Anna Nowicka, LSIC; Sister M. Gemma Procopio, FMIHM; and Sister Antoinette DeNardo, MPF.
Jubilarians celebrating 50 years are Sister Barbara Bamberger, IHM; Sister Rosemarie Lafferty, SSJ; Sister M. Francine Dacy, DM; and Sister M. Bernarda Ribeiro, FMIHM.
Jubilarians celebrating 25 years are Sister Dianelyn Malacad, HSM; and Sister Jadwiga Chlus, LSIC.
The occasion was one of the last public acts of Bishop Galante as ordinary of the Camden Diocese. The bishop – who served in Rome as undersecretary for the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, 1987-92 – has often professed his admiration and respect for those in religious life.
“The church continues to be enriched by the example, the dedication and the self-sacrifice of religious women,” he wrote in a column about the contributions of women religious in the Star Herald on Aug. 17, 2012.
“I personally owe a great deal to religious women in terms of my own growth in prayer and heightened awareness, especially of the poor and needy.”
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