Religious Milestones: Felician Sister Cynthia Marie Babyak, 60 years

Sister Cynthia Marie Babyak is celebrating her continued commitment to her vows as a Felician Sister. 

Born to parents Helen and George, she had one sister and grew up in Garfield in Bergen County, where she attended Most Holy Name School at her parish. She attended Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi, which was where she first encountered the Felician Sisters, officially known as the Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi.

She did not initially like the idea of attending an all-girls high school, but her mother insisted that if she was accepted, she would attend.

“That was all in God’s plans, because I never would have known about the Felician Sisters had that not happened,” Sister Cynthia said.

When she graduated from high school, she joined the Felician Sisters. After one year as a postulant and one year as a novice, she made her first vows. At the time, the custom was for Felician Sisters to choose a new name when they professed vows, so she chose George, which was her dad’s name.

“Dad was not a happy camper about my going into the religious life, and I wanted to endear him the whole idea,” she recalled.

After the Second Vatican Council, Felician Sisters were encouraged to return to their baptismal names, so she switched back to using Cynthia. By that time, her father had “warmed up” to the idea of her being in religious life.

During postulancy and novitiate, she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Felician University, Rutherford. Later, she earned master’s degrees in secondary education, campus ministry, and religious education at LaSalle University, Philadelphia, and a certification in educational administration at St. Peter’s University, Jersey City. She holds many certifications in math and science, as well.

Her first ministry as a religious sister was teaching second grade at St. Stanislaus Kostka, Sayreville. Next, she worked in the Archdiocese of Newark, where she taught middle school science at St. Michael’s School in Lyndhurst. In Dover, Del., she taught high school science, math, and religion. She also started a liturgy club with the high school students.

In 1997, she began working at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison, initially teaching math, religion, and chemistry. In time, she was asked to become the campus minister.

In 1987, she became the principal of her alma mater, Immaculate Conception High School, Lodi.

In 1992, she returned to St. Thomas Aquinas as a math teacher and later resumed the role of campus minister.

“I loved teaching math, because when that ‘aha’ moment comes into a child’s mind, it’s a very satisfying moment for a teacher,” Sister Cynthia said.

Being a campus minister was also a rewarding experience for her.

“All the service projects that we did in campus ministry, all the retreats… It’s the people that become the favorite parts of your life,” she said. Sister Cynthia said that she learned through the years that it is important to maintain your own spiritual life in order to minister to others.

Two of her favorite personal devotions are praying the rosary, and praying the chaplet of Blessed Mary Angela, founder of the Felician Sisters, for whom Sister Cynthia developed a devotion to after joining the community.

Sister Cynthia emphasized the importance of choosing to recommit to following her vows each day.

“I need to get up every day and renew the commitment that I made,” she said. “Life continues and so you need to recommit yourself every day, first with God, with yourself, with your community and the people that I serve.”

Sister Cynthia retired from her role as campus minister at St. Thomas Aquinas High, Edison, in 2022. She has been volunteering with an organization that helps chronically ill children, and has also taken up crocheting, a hobby she had not had time for while working. She has made ten baby blankets so far, and given each to someone who needed the blanket for their baby.