Five Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth celebrate 25-year jubilees

Five Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth each marked 25 years of faithful service in consecrated life on Aug. 26 during a Mass in St. Joseph Chapel in Parsippany. The liturgy was celebrated by Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney.

The jubilarian sisters were Sister Cathy Lynn Cummings, Sister Joanne Uralikunnel, Sister Jycinth Valenciana, Sister Ludovica Pallippadan, and Sister Filomena Vadakken.

Concelebrating with Bishop Sweeney were priests from parishes in the area, two from as far as Missouri, and priests who serve the Franciscan Sisters. They included Father Brendan Murray, a retired diocesan priest and their confessor, and Father Francis Kelly, a non-incardinated priest of the Boston Archdiocese who serves as their chaplain.

Sisters serving the order teach at its St. Elizabeth School in Parsippany, which is a Montessori school specializing in early childhood education. Many of the sisters in the order also serve in parish ministry as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist and catechists and by visiting the homebound.

— MICHAEL WOJCIK