Summary
Sister Joan (Mary Magdalen) Shalapin, ASC, celebrated 65 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (ASC) at Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
Sister Joan (Mary Magdalen) Shalapin, ASC, celebrated 65 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (ASC) at Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows on Saturday, July 1, 2023. She made her first profession on July 1, 1958, and her final vows on July 1, 1963. Joined by the ASC community she celebrated her anniversary with the Eucharist and a reception.
Sister Joan was born in East St. Louis, IL, to Peter and Mary (Evansco) Shalapin Ruggiero. Sister Joan earned her bachelor’s degree in Geography from Saint Louis University in 1970. She received a master’s in Art and Group Interaction from Webster University in St. Louis in 1975, and a master’s in Pastoral Ministry from Seattle University in the state of Washington in 1991.
Sister Joan’s ministry in education included elementary schools in both Illinois and Missouri. She taught at St. Bruno in Pinckneyville, Sacred Heart in Dupo, the Catholic Children’s Home in Alton, Immaculate Conception in Columbia, all in Illinois. She also taught at St. Jerome in St. Louis and was both teacher and principal at Visitation in Vienna, MO. Her ministry at Gibault High School in Waterloo, IL, included teaching, chairing the art department and serving on the administration as Dean of Students. For several years she resided in a House of Prayer at Holy Rosary in Fairmont City, IL. Here she also engaged in parish ministry and served as a part-time teacher.
Following several months as a Vista Volunteer in Edmonton, Ken., she worked five years with our Lady of the Way Hospital in Martin, KY, chairing the Department of Community Health Education. She held the same position in Murphysboro, IL, in conjunction with St. Joseph Memorial Hospital. She returned to Kentucky as a Pastoral Associate at St. Joseph the Worker Mission in Elkhorn City.
Sister Joan is a member of the St. Louis Camera Club and has served as a volunteer for research at Washington University in St. Louis.
She resided in Belleville, IL, for many years where she engaged in the ministry of art, spirituality, serving as a Hospice Volunteer and a Reader for the Mind’s Eye, a radio service for the blind and partially sighted, sponsored by the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville.
Sister Joan recently moved to Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. She is Living Mission in Later Life.