Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT)

November 10, 2005

Felician Sisters end association with St. Joseph School in Vernon
Author: Jason Rowe

VERNON -- The three remaining Felician Sisters on staff at St. Joseph School have left the parish, ending a relationship that had lasted for more than 80 years.

The sisters left the school during the last weekend of October, marking the first time since the early 1920s that the religious group is without a presence at the Catholic school in the Rockville section of town.

The Rev. Joseph M. Olczak, St. Joseph's pastor, said the church had been in conversation with the sisters' provincial office in Enfield about the pending departure.

While he would not discuss the specific reasons for the sisters' decision to leave the school, Olczak said there was no conflict between the sisters and the parish.

"We loved to have them here," Olczak said. "Felicians were always loved here in the parish."

Sister M. Laureann Alexandrowicz, provincial minister of Our Lady of the Angels Province, reached by telephone today at the Felician Sisters' provincial house in Enfield, referred comment on the matter to Olczak.

Of the school's faculty, Olczak said only two members -- the principal and a classroom teacher -- belong to the religious group.

Another sister was working with students as part of the after-school program.

Lay teachers make up the remainder of the staff, Olczak said.

It is unknown where the sisters' next assignment will be.

The school, on West Street, serves students from kindergarten through eighth-grade.

The teacher already has been replaced and parish officials have advertised for a new principal.

Olczak said the parish has received applications from about 15 people for the principal position.

Olczak said the transition at the school is going smoothly.

Describing the sisters as "wonderful teachers," Olczak said finding enough sisters who are willing and able to teach has been difficult.

Olczak said the sisters are becoming fewer in number, and those who are left are growing older.

"They don't have the people," said Olczak, who added that parish officials knew the sisters would have to leave the parish "sooner or later."

The Felician Sisters are a teaching order whose membership has declined in recent years because of a lack of vocations.

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