Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities still serving after 150 years

Over the past 150 years, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities have left footprints in many areas of life — from health care to education to social work — in Pittsburgh.

“One hundred fifty years is a testament to their will and commitment to survive … and their dedication and devotion to people and society and the locales they're located in,” said Tim Schneider, 56, of Sewickley, who has worked with the sisters for more than 30 years.

Beginning this fall, the sisters are celebrating 150 years in the area with a series of events.

An open house will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 20. It will feature a guided tour of the St. Francis Convent on the Mt. Alvernia campus.

Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will celebrate a Mass marking the anniversary at 10 a.m. Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

The sisters began their ministries in Pittsburgh in 1865 when sisters Elizabeth Kaufman, Magdalene Hess and Stephen Winkelman were sent to Pittsburgh from Buffalo, N.Y., to establish a hospital for German Catholics, said Sister Lorraine Wesolowski.

The sisters founded the St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, which eventually expanded into the St. Francis Health System and included facilities in New Castle and Cranberry.

Sister Lorraine said, as a congregation, the sisters have responded to the changing needs of the area as time has passed. They have served in pastoral care, parish ministry, social work, mission work, senior-adult housing, child care and environmental stewardship.

The 90 vowed sisters and 40 associates in Pittsburgh are part of a congregation of more than 400 vowed women and 250 Franciscan associates based in New York, Pennsylvania and Hawaii.

Schneider, a partner with the Henry Rossi & Co. certified public accounting firm, began working with the sisters 33 years ago as an auditor for one of the buildings in Christian Housing Inc., a group of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-subsidized communities. Through the years of working alongside the sisters, he said he always has been impressed with the dignity and respect with which they treat all people, no matter the circumstance.

“They have an untiring ability to deal with anything that comes through,” Schneider said. “These women, they will not turn their back on anyone or anything. It's amazing to me how devoted they are.”

Schneider still does finance and compliance work for Christian Housing's management group. He also got involved with the annual golf outing that benefits the sisters and directed it for the first time this year as the result of being inspired by the sisters' devotion to service.

The motherhouse on Mt. Alvernia in Millvale opened in 1900 and still houses the congregation's Western Pennsylvania region house. In 1936, the former Mt. Alvernia High School for girls was founded.

Sisters served as educators in 20 secondary schools and 30 elementary schools in the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Altoona-Johnstown beginning in the 1960.

St. Francis Medical Center in Lawrenceville closed in 2002, but the sisters' legacy in health care lives on in Pittsburgh, said Joanne Bedillion, 73, of Shaler, who worked as a registered nurse for 50 years in St. Francis Medical Center.

“You don't stay 50 years if it's not a good experience,” Bedillion said. “They were phenomenal. Their caring of people and their caring for us as employees was utterly indescribable.”

Bedillion was trained at the St. Francis School of Nursing, and her four children were taught by the sisters throughout elementary school. When the hospital in Lawrenceville closed, Bedillion continued to work with the sisters on a mobile health-clinic van called the Spirit of Health, where they would provide free preventative care services.

“I can't tell you how much of a blessing I've had being involved with them,” she said.

While traditionally sisters have gone into healthcare, social services or education, Sister Lorraine said, now any woman who wants to join can find a vocation that fits her strengths to contribute to the sisterhood.

Sisters work in social work, as lawyers, in health care and in higher education, she said, just to name a few careers. Today the sisters are sponsors of the Mt. Alvernia Day Care and Learning Center and Change a Heart Franciscan Volunteer Program.

“You're committing yourself to God and his church to serve those who are the vulnerable, the marginalized, those in most need of the services we can provide,” Sister Lorraine said. “What we can provide as congregations are varied and many.”

For more information on the 150th anniversary celebrations for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, visit sosf.org.

Rachel Farkas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6364.