Sister Henrietta Hibbs, CSJ
(Sister M. Henrietta)
80 years
Sister Henrietta Hibbs was received into the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange Park in 1942. She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Education from DePaul University, and for 20 years taught primary grade school children in Chicago Archdiocesan schools.
In addition to teaching during the 1950s, Sister Henrietta and several St. John Fisher parishioners spent Friday nights caring for homeless women in the Residents for Emergency Shelter (REST) on the north side of Chicago. A later move to Columbus, Mississippi, had her teaching first and third-graders at St. Mary School for a number of years.
Upon returning to LaGrange Park, Sister Henrietta earned a Master’s degree in Education Administration from Loyola University and became principal of Mt. Carmel School in Chicago Heights. She then returned to Mississippi where she taught religion for 17 years at St. Elizabeth School in Clarksdale. While there, she also joined a group and gave two Kairos retreats at a women’s prison in Pearl, Miss.
During her career, Sister Henrietta also taught middle-school children, served as a computer instructor, and was the director of the Christian Life Center in Chicago.
Sister Henrietta currently resides at our center in LaGrange Park where she is active in prayer ministry.
Sister Mary Peter McGinty, CSJ
75 years
Sister Mary Peter McGinty has experienced education from first grade to graduate school; from Archdiocesan Catholic Schools, to the Seminary in Mundelein, and at Loyola University in Chicago. She remembered being assigned to teach first grade and serve as principal in one of our elementary schools. Because the pastor did not want a first grade teacher to be the principal, the original assignment had to be changed. The solution was to make her the eighth grade teacher and the principal, which she did successfully.
When Sister Mary Peter earned her Ph.D. from Marquette University, she was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Theology from an American University. She joined the Systematic Theology at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago becoming the first woman professor at the seminary where she taught for 5 years. She then joined the faculty at Loyola University in Chicago where she was appointed director of the newly formed graduate program in Theology. For the next 35 years, she enjoyed opening the academic study of Theology to college and graduate students. In these years, she also became one of the first theologians in the U.S. to study process theology and teach this to sisters in our congregation during their formation.
Sister Mary Peter currently resides at Resurrection Life Center in Chicago where she is active in prayer ministry.
Sister Julie Cannon, CSJ
(Sister Donna Marie)
70 years
After graduating from Nazareth Academy, Sister Julie Cannon was received into the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange Park on August 15, 1952. She taught elementary school as well as high school and college biology prior to becoming a nurse.
Sister Julie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from DePaul University and a Master of Science degree also in Biology from St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. Later, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Rush University, a Master of Science degree in Nursing from St. Xavier University, and finally, a Doctorate in Healthcare from the University of Oxford. She has applied her nursing skills as a teacher and volunteer serving on five continents including Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and Australia. She then served as a Clinical Professor of Nursing at Morton College in Cicero.
Sister Julie currently resides at our center in LaGrange Park where she is active in prayer ministry.
Sister Laurina Kahne, CSJ
(Sister M. Laurina)
70 years
Sister Laurina Kahne was received into the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange Park on August 15, 1952. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from DePaul University and a Master of Arts degree in Religious Education from Mundelein College.
Having taught 26 years in elementary and secondary education, she then served as a pastoral associate and began Hispanic ministry at St. Cletus Parish in LaGrange Park. Later she accepted a position with the Joliet Diocese Office of Hispanic Services, ministering in immigration services, court reporting, and catechumenate in English and Spanish for thirty-three years.
Sister Laurina currently resides at our center in LaGrange Park where she is active in prayer ministry and is a member of a committee dedicated to preserving the history of the CSJ community in LaGrange Park.
Sister Rosemary La Flaur, CSJ
(Sister Mary Gregory)
70 years
Sister Rosemary La Flaur was received into the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange Park on August 15, 1952. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Loyola University and a Master of Arts degree in Education Administration from the University of Detroit. Sister Rosemary devoted her entire career to education, teaching in the Chicago and Joliet Dioceses. She taught 1st thru 5th grades for a number of years until she became a principal – a post she held for twenty years – divided between St. Mary in West Chicago, St. Francis Xavier in LaGrange Park, and Our Lady of Loretto in Hometown. She then returned to teaching for a number of years.
Sister Rosemary continues to be active and always finds ways to help her neighbors. She attends protest marches, helps in food pantries, helps to settle refugee families, writes letters and makes phone calls to thank others or to fight for the rights of those who need assistance, and visits with family and friends.
Currently, Sister Rosemary resides at the LaGrange Park Center and enjoys fun, activities and prayer.
Sister Patricia Willems, CSJ
(Sister M. Ferdinand)
70 years
Sister Patricia Willems was received into the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange Park on August 15, 1952. She holds a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Education from DePaul University, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Pastoral Studies degree in spirituality from Loyola University, Chicago.
Sister Pat taught elementary grade school children in Archdiocesan schools for nearly 30 years, during which time she became an art coordinator, then the full-time art teacher at St. Francis Xavier School and the Alexine Learning Center in LaGrange Park and St. Mary School in Riverside. She is certified in Clinical Pastoral Education and is also a certified member of the National Expressive Therapy Association. She also spent 12 years working in pastoral care, primarily at Palos Community Hospital.
Sister Pat’s artistic skills led her to create retreat programs and art therapy at the Jesuit Spirituality Center in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, and in LaGrange Park. Currently, she is retired and designs and sews stuffed animals for refugee children, and continues to contribute her watercolor paintings to the Ministry of the Arts, a digital ministry of the Congregation.
