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Sister Eileen Fitzgerald Sister Eileen Fitzgerald, biological sister of Sisters Catherine and Jerome, and a native of County Limerick, Ireland, joined our community in 1948, made first vows in 1951 and final vows in August 1954. She was a classroom teacher and has been involved in educational administration, taught PSR classes, and tutored, and has served as Councilor on our Congregation's Leadership Team for three terms. After retiring as principal in 2006, she became Incarnate Word Academy's Director of Development. "I felt called to religious life at a very young age. I remember asking my mother, 'When are you going to let me go away and be a nun?' I always felt that religious life was the path God had chosen for me. Prayer was always an important part of the early years in my home. Praying the rosary daily together was a family practice. Growing up in Doon, County Limerick, with my parents and five siblings, I enjoyed a childhood typical of that day - living and working off the land. I loved the animals and the simple life. I feel I must make an effort to live the Beatitudes in my daily life, and that my life should be a life of service in whatever way I can serve." ~ Sister Eileen Fitzgerald Sister Jerome Fitzgerald In 1948, with her sister Eileen, Sister Jerome Fitzgerald ventured from her home in County Limerick, Ireland to join the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament. In 1951, she made her first vows, followed by perpetual profession of vows in August 1954. Sister Jerome has been a teacher for 34 years, an elementary school principal, parish minister for older adults for 21 years, and pastoral minister at St. Richard Parish since 1986. "As I look back on my life as a Sister, it has been filled with journeying - walking with the Lord. Through all these experiences, there have been three things I can count on: my family, my faith and love for God, and the joy in being a Sister of the Incarnate Word." ~ Sister Jerome Fitzgerald Sister Ignatius Jones Sister Ignatius Jones left her home in Kilcolman, Kanturk, County Cork, Ireland to respond to a call to religious life in January 1948 and made her first vows in 1951. Final vows followed in 1953. She has served as a teacher, school administrator, director of religious education, and, most recently, as a member of the extended day staff at Incarnate Word Academy. "The desire for God, the God I know in Jesus, the Incarnate Word, has been the touchstone of a sense of integrity or purpose, that has kept me on track - faithful. My perseverance I attribute to prayer, God's grace, being happy, content and fulfilled." ~ Sister Ignatius Jones Sister Mary Rose Kocab A native of Cleveland, Sister Mary Rose Kocab joined our community in 1967, making her first profession of vows in 1970, followed by perpetual vows in 1973. Her previous ministries include junior high education, Director of Religious Education, spiritual direction and retreat ministry, vocation and formation ministry, and Congregational Leadership. She served as Co-Director of the Diocesan Vocation Office for the Diocese of Cleveland for ten years. She was first elected to the Leadership Team in 1995 and served as Councilor for three consecutive terms. She currently serves as the Congregational Leader. "From the time I was young, I had a desire to know God, to learn to pray, and to do what God wanted. The greatest blessing in my life is my hunger and thirst for God, a deeper desire for 'the more,' a longing for someone that I know only God can be for me." This hunger for God has led me to the lives and writings of friends of God like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Therese of Lisieux, Jeanne Chézard de Matel, and others who have become companions on my journey. Words from the Writings of Jeanne Chézard de Matel that challenge and guide my life are words that she speaks to us, her Sisters of the Incarnate Word: "You owe the Incarnate Word a Love... a love as strong as death, a love more insatiable than hell, a love that never says, 'Enough!'" ~ Sister Mary Rose Kocab Sister Betty Ann Macatee A native Philadelphia with five siblings, Sister Betty Ann Macatee, is one of a set of triplets. She joined our community in 1964 and made her first vows in 1967; final vows followed in August 1971. Her ministries have included teaching kindergarten and 1st grade, working as a nurse's assistant, and a variety of volunteer ministries. Today she works in the Incarnate Word Academy attendance office. She loves journaling in all its forms as well as varied crafts and is very artistic. "(Being a Sister has) been a life-long mystery and one which unfolds each day as I journey with Jesus. The Beatitudes are like rules for happiness. Blest means 'happy' and this is what I believe Jesus has created me to be, just happy. I came to know early on in life that those who are poor in spirit can't depend on material things for happiness. Jesus means everything to me - to be really happy in Him alone." ~ Sister Betty Ann Macatee

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