Sister Barbara (Mary Martin) Croom, ASC, died at St Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas, early Saturday evening, August 29, 2026. For several months Sr. Barbara’s health was declining due to complications from congestive heart failure. She was 85 years old and had been a professed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for 64 years.
Sister Barbara La-Von was born in North Carolina on June 23, 1941, to Sarah Louise Gorham. In her autobiography she wrote that she would later be adopted by James Marion Croom, taking his surname and considering him her true father. An only child, she described herself as learning early to be self-sufficient and independent, qualities that Sr. Barbara maintained throughout her life. She also had substantial household responsibilities as both her parents worked.
North Carolina was one of the states where the Columbia Adorers served in the “home missions,” an area of the United States where there were very few Catholics and a large Black population. Sister Barbara met the Adorers at Our Lady of the Atonement School in Kinston, located just across the street from her home. She later studied at St. Joseph High School Academy in Columbia. A talented pianist and vocalist, Sr. Barbara often had leading roles in school plays.
After graduation Sr. Barbara worked a year in Washington, D.C. to pay off her school debt. During that time, she maintained her intention to become a sister and entered the Adorers in 1960. She made her first profession on July 1, 1962, and her final vows on July 1, 1967.
Sister Barbara wrote that her formation years were not without challenges. Being one of only two Black Sisters in the Columbia province, she sometimes encountered the prejudice that followed her from the outside world into religious life. She described how she was able to respond with remarkable resilience, having been taught by her parents that she was just as good as the next person.
Before completing her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Youngstown University in Youngstown, Ohio in 1972, Sr. Barbara acquired years of classroom experience at St. Madeleine Sophie School in Lumberton, North Carolina; Our Lady of Atonement in Kinston, North Carolina; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Niles, Ohio; St. Teresa in Albany, Georgia; and St. John in Enhaut, Pennsylvania. After leaving teaching Sr. Barbara spent 1973-77 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a housemother at Sylvan Heights Home, a residence for young women needing support services.
In August of 1968, Sr. Barbara was one of the 150 Black Catholic nuns who founded the National Black Sisters Conference to support, educate, and advocate for African American Catholic women religious. Until a few years ago when she could no longer travel, Sr. Barbara remained active in the National Black Sisters Conference and related organizations advocating for racial justice in the Catholic Church and tending to the distinct cultures and spiritualties of the Black Catholics.
She earned her master’s in divinity from Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1980, and was certified in Spiritual Direction by Mercy Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2008.
Sister Barbara served as a Pastoral Associate for St. Francis of Assisi Parish and St. Catherine Laboure Parish, both in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Before being elected to the Provincial Council of the Columbia Province in 1992, she served five years at Holy Spirit Parish in Bronx, New York. She compared its multi-ethnic and multi-racial membership to a mini-United Nations.
During the last two decades, Sr. Barbara served at Holy Savior in Wichita, Kansas, responding to a variety of needs as Pastoral Assistant, directing the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and teaching and attending to neglected youth.
She also served as a core team member of the Precious Blood Parish Mission Program. For six years she joined other members of the Precious Blood Family preaching throughout the United States.
When in her eighties and “Living Mission in Later Life” at the Wichita Center, Sr. Barbara spoke of approaching each day with an openness to whatever it may bring. Years of unexpected experiences had taught her to hold her plans loosely as directions change, to speak her mind freely and to no longer be concerned about mincing words or tempering her perspective.
In announcing Sr. Barbara’s death, the Holy Savior Parish web site shared an interview when she celebrated 60 years as an Adorer. “We all have a call, the call that Jesus asks of us. And that call, we have to answer. It’s a call to continue the mission of Jesus in this world.”
Preceding Sr. Barbara in death were her mother, Sarah, and adoptive father James Croom. She is survived by cousins, many lay and religious friends, and her ASC community members.
Sister Barbara will be welcomed home to the Wichita Center at 2:00 p.m. on September 15, preceding a wake service at 6:30 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated September 16 at 10:30 a.m. with Rev. Tom Welk, C. PP. S, presiding. These services will take place at the Woman of the New Covenant Chapel. Per her wishes, interment will be in the Adorers cemetery in Columbia, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 2026. Rosary will be at 10:30 a.m. at St Anne’s Retirement Community, with Memorial Mass at 11 a.m. followed immediately by interment.
In 2012, Holy Savior Parish celebrated Sr. Barbara’s 50th anniversary as an Adorer. This quote is part of an interview for the parish bulletin. “For me and for African-Americans in general, this congregational charism of the suffering Christ, his death and resurrection is close to who we are.”
Sister Barbara, we are grateful that you have been among us as sister and friend reminding of us of God’s inclusive love.
Donations in Sr. Barbara’s memory may be sent to the Adorers at 4233 Sulphur Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, 63109, or made online at www.adorers.org.
Adorers of the Blood of Christ, United States Region
Sister Barbara was a very Devout Sister to Her faith. May Her soul be received in the Kingdom. I will never forget Her beautiful smile or Her kind voice.