Sister of Mercy Rose Morris retires after 33 years at academy
Sister Rose Morris has been a “pillar” at Walsingham Academy, Williamsburg, as she taught with joy, comforted people in distress and lived her faith. She has retired after 33 years at the school, and she will be missed.
School president Sister Mary Jeanne Oesterle said Sister Rose is “a magnificent teacher” and “a beautiful religious, a beautiful Sister of Mercy” whose “faith life is an example to everyone she meets.”
“She is beloved, and people will say that they have grown closer to God or have been brought back to God because of her faith and her spirituality,” said Sister Mary Jeanne, also a member of the Sisters of Mercy.
Susan Morelli, lower school reading specialist, called Sister Rose “a pillar of Walsingham” who “humbly” cared for teachers, students and parents.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Sister Rose, 88, received a Catholic education and lived in a family where “religion was very much practiced” at home, she said. She remembers going to weekly Masses and praying the rosary for world peace at alternating homes in her Catholic neighborhood during World War II.
She had a younger sister who died of leukemia at age 7 and a younger brother. The tragedy helped Sister Rose in later life when comforting those in sorrow after a loved one passed away, she said.
When Sister Rose was in the fifth grade, she began considering becoming a religious after reading a book about St. Therese, known as the Little Flower. As the years passed, that thought “went on the back burner,” especially in eighth grade when she was interested in boys and social activities, she said.
She was an upperclassman when she again felt called to be a religious. She prayed, read books, talked to and observed sisters of various communities and toured convents. She felt called to the Sisters of Mercy, which has a motherhouse in Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. She joined the community in fall of 1951, soon after graduating high school.
At the time, the sisters were restricted to being teachers or nurses in hospitals. She chose to be an educator because she wanted to work with children. She said the job was “fun” and introduced her to “wonderful people.”
Sister Rose earned a bachelor’s in literature from Villanova University and a master’s in curriculum development from Temple University, both in the Philadelphia area. She began teaching in the mid- 1950s.
Over the years, she taught every grade from pre-K to 12th in Catholic schools in Philadelphia, Florida and Williamsburg. She spent the last several years teaching religion to students from pre-K to fifth grade.
Sister Mary Jeanne said students looked forward to Sister Rose’s religion classes because she made learning fun. She taught about faith in terms and methods tailored to each grade level. She especially enjoyed having students act out Gospel stories.
Sister Rose taught Bible stories, faith values and how to “talk to God quietly in their hearts,” Sister Mary Jeanne said, adding that Sister Rose told the students, “If you need anything, turn to God. That is where the help will come from.”
Students at Walsingham are encouraged to live their faith by being the hands and feet of Christ. Pre-COVID, Sister Rose took small groups of students from fourth through seventh grades to nursing homes to cheer the residents. Sister Mary Jeanne said the students loved the opportunity and hoped to be among those selected to go each week.
“Jesus said go forth and teach all nations, and that is our task really as Christians, to go forth and do what we can in our little corner of the world,” Sister Rose said. She also visited Catholics in nursing homes on her own on Sundays and offered them Communion.
Marian Gansler, school nurse who has known Sister Rose for 17 years, said she is a woman of great faith, knowledge and devotion and that she is “a giving, giving person” who “embodies the mercy charism” and is “a Sister of Mercy through and through.”
Morelli, who has known Sister Rose for 25 years, called her “the comforter” at Walsingham because whenever someone, be it a student, teacher or parent, was sick, in sorrow or facing some other strife, Sister Rose was one of the first people to respond with a phone call, a card or a visit. She also sent people cards “just to bring some joy.”
Similarly, Sister Mary Jeanne said, “She just has a gift for reaching out to anyone who just has a need of someone to say, ‘I care. You are not alone, and you’re loved by God.’”
When Morelli’s mother died, the cards Sister Rose sent her were so “beautifully written” that Morelli “treasures them” and rereads them when she needs “to feel God’s presence.”
Morelli said Sister Rose is always positive and unassuming.
“We were blessed to have her,” Morelli said.
Sister Rose also feels blessed.
“It’s really a privilege to teach,” she said. “I’ve had so many good experiences really, and all I can say is thank you.”