Change is in the air as winter reluctantly gives way to spring. Change is also in the air at our school as we reluctantly prepare to say farewell to Sr. Mary Elizabeth Karalis, SSJ, our Director of Religious Education and Mrs. Adria Crowley, our school principal. After serving so well as our Director of Religious Education and spiritual director for a number of our parishioners over the past 11 years, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Karalis, SSJ, has decided to retire. Sister has been a strong presence both in our parish and school over these years, attending Sunday and daily Mass, leading our Parish Religious Education Program (PREP) and directing the sacramental preparation for Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation for our children in our parish, our parish school and our PREP. With a master’s degree in counseling from Villanova University, Sister has also provided counseling and spiritual direction for parishioners and others whom she has come to know over her 40 years as a Sister of St. Joseph.
As you can surely tell from her charming accent, Sister Mary Elizabeth is a New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in Long Island. After graduating from Marywood University in Scranton, PA, with degrees in elementary education and psychology, Sister Mary Elizabeth has a had long career in education, starting in 1976 as a 5th grade teacher at Nativity School, Warminster, PA. It was here that Sister became familiar with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia. She was already familiar with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood since she had three aunts who were members of that Sisters of St. Joseph community. Sister entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia in 1984 and continued teaching – now as a religious sister – at various schools: St. Pius X in Bowie, MD, St. Genevieve in Flourtown, PA, Holy Family in Hillcrest Hills, MD, and Our Lady of Mercy in Winston Salem, NC. She then became the DRE at Saints Cosmas and Damian Parish in Conshohocken before coming here as our DRE in 2013. Her outgoing personality and accommodation of everyone with special concerns and needs has endeared her to us all and we will miss her.
We have been in contact with both the Sisters of St. Joseph and the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education to begin our search to succeed Sr. Mary Elizabeth. We thank Sister for her enthusiastic ministry in our midst and assure her of our prayers as she discerns her next steps in serving the Church.
Additionally, as those in our school community have already learned, Adria recently announced her resignation, effective at the end of our school year in June, to attend to some ongoing health issues. Although she has only been our principal for two years, Adria has accomplished a great deal including her oversight in hiring additional teachers’ aides in our lower grades and introducing a variety of electives for the students in the upper grades.
We have already begun to work with Mrs. Bernadette Dougherty from the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education to initiate our search for a new principal. As the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools, Bernadette will coordinate the search and help us to establish a search committee. We feel very confident that we will find a successor who will lead our school well. Our goal is to make an extremely smooth transition to a new principal to succeed Adria beginning next fall.
In the meantime, we thank Adria for her outstanding contribution to our school, first as our technology teacher, then as a kindergarten teacher and most recently as our principal. We assure her of our prayers for her return to health.