Religious Milestones: Mercy Sister Mary Jo Kearns, 60 years

Mercy Sister Mary Jo Kearns said that being a religious sister for 60 years has been a blessing. “I feel so blessed and am so grateful for my vocation and all the people I have met in religious life and in my ministries,” she said. 

Born in Cedar Grove to parents Josephine and Joseph and raised in Sea Girt, she was one of a family of five children. The family worshipped at St. Mark’s Parish, Sea Girt, and she attended St. Catharine’s School, Spring Lake, and St. Rose High School, Belmar. At both schools, she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

The Sisters of St. Joseph “were a great influence in my call to religious life,” Sister Mary Jo recalled. “But my family, especially my mother, was so supportive as well.”

“Although I loved the Sisters of St. Joseph, my mother encouraged me to enter the Sisters of Mercy.”

Her mother said the Sisters of Mercy were a less-strict community and ministered only in New Jersey, whereas the Sisters of St. Joseph had missions in other states to which she might be sent, and Josephine Kearns wanted her daughter to continue to live nearby. Also, Sister Mary Jo’s aunt was in the Sisters of Mercy at the time.

“It was all in God’s providence,” Sister Mary Jo said.

After high school, Sister Mary Jo joined the Sisters of Mercy and began earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Georgian Court University, Lakewood. She also earned a master’s degree in religious studies from Providence College in Rhode Island. She holds certifications in spiritual direction, retreat direction, and grief counseling.

“My family was very supportive of my decision to become a religious sister,” she said. “However, my mother knew me well, and was concerned I’d be too afraid to speak up if I wanted to return home. So, knowing that my letters were read before they were sent out, she told me to leave off the periods at the end of the sentences if I wanted to come home, and she’d come up and get me! Needless to say, I always included those periods.”

For eight years, she taught fourth through eighth grades at schools in the dioceses of Trenton and Metuchen: St. Matthew the Apostle, Edison; St. Mary, Alpha; St. Catherine, East Keansburg; and St. James, Red Bank.

“I loved working with children, but felt a call to start a house of prayer, which became Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer, on the grounds of Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung,” she said.

In 1976, along with three other Sisters of Mercy, she helped to establish the Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer, which provides retreats, spirituality programs, and a sacred space to connect with God. She has ministered there ever since, and enjoyed offering retreats on a variety of themes, including grief recovery.

In recent years, she has begun working at the house of prayer part-time and now works full-time as Sister Life Minister at McAuley Hall Health Care Center, a licensed nursing center also in Watchung.

“I am very blessed with the education and experiences I’ve been afforded,” she said. “I loved teaching grade school, and I have also loved my ministry at the House of Prayer giving spiritual direction, retreats, and spiritual programs. In the past few years, ministering as Sister Life Minister at McAuley Hall Health Care Center has also been so rewarding for me.”

The most rewarding aspect of being a religious sister has been “interacting with people,” she said.

“I’ve lived with many holy women religious and have met so many wonderful people in the various places I’ve ministered,” she added.

Her only wish would be to have more time in each day.

“Probably the greatest challenge I still face is being satisfied with the time I’m given each day,” she said. “I keep wishing I had more of it so I could accomplish more.”

She encouraged anyone interested in religious life to follow their calling.

“If you feel a call to religious life, pray about it and follow your dream,” she said. “It can be a most rewarding and fulfilling life.”