October 18, 2023 at 12:26 p.m.

FULFILLING THE MISSION

Sister Stories: Sister Mary O’Brien, CSJ

Sister Mary O’Brien, CSJ, has spent the majority of her life serving the “dear neighbor” and is extremely proud to be a Sister of St. Joseph. (Photo provided)

Sister Mary O’Brien, CSJ, has spent the majority of her life serving the “dear neighbor” and is extremely proud to be a Sister of St. Joseph. She has been a Sister of St. Joseph for 58 years and has worked in pastoral ministry in many different locations throughout New York, as well as Pennsylvania. She has taught in schools and also served eight years in leadership for the Albany Province at the Provincial House in Latham. Throughout her tenure, she always knew her passion was working with the low-income community.

“God has blessed me abundantly in all the ministries that have graced my life through the years. Initially, I started off teaching at the old St. Francis de Sales School in Troy,” Sister Mary said. “I have such fond memories of living and working with the sisters in the local convent. Among my various teaching assignments was an occasional art class with my homeroom sixth graders … and an art teacher I was not! Those classes, no doubt, were surely ones where the students outshone the teacher!

“After teaching English and religion in the middle grades, I spent my summers taking theology courses at St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vt., until I received my degree. That education was the perfect preparation for many subsequent years of pastoral ministry in churches throughout many counties. Tucked in between these pastoral positions were three years of serving as an outreach director of St. Patrick’s/Our Lady of Angels in Albany, providing service in the food pantry and soup kitchen, and then eight marvelous years working with CSJs on our own leadership team.

“This cornucopia of ministries and the people I was missioned to serve taught me so much about life and loving, generosity and kindness, about joys, grief, suffering and healing and about a God who lavished me along my life’s journey with untold blessings and unimaginable love. All of these experiences fed my passion to help create a just and more equitable world for all.

“After serving for nine wonderful years as pastoral associate at St. Catherine’s in Ithaca, I felt called to work again more directly with the dear neighbors among us who are economically challenged and suffering the effects of impoverishment. As always, God provided the perfect landing spot for me in nearby Tioga County.”

Currently, Sister Mary is serving as executive director at the Tioga County Rural Ministry based in Owego. It first opened in 1978, and since then, it has evolved and grown to help thousands of people.

The Tioga County Rural Ministry is a food pantry and also provides financial assistance and is open and available for anyone who lives in Tioga County. Last year, they served over 502 unique families at their food pantry, which is available whenever and for as much as any family needs. They also served 226 unique families in giving out over $157K in assistance for rent, utilities and car repairs to name a few.

“Every day I feel so blessed to live in this generous community that truly captures the CSJ desire to treat all as ‘the dear neighbor’ among us, Sister Mary said.” “It is my joy and delight to work with dedicated staff and volunteers. Together we aspire to fulfill our mission ‘to be a sign of Jesus’ presence by serving the unmet needs of the poor, sick and elderly of Tioga County.”

Sister Mary knows she has found her home at the Tioga County Rural Ministry.