Sister Mary Matthew Janciar, ASC, a teacher, and parish minister, died on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2019, at St. Anne’s Retirement Community in Columbia, Pennsylvania. She was 93.
Bridgit Janciar, the older of two daughters of Slovakian immigrants, Emil and Theresa Janciar, was born November 3, 1925, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. When her mother became a widow and remarried, Bridgit gained four step-siblings.
She entered the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on August 29, 1939, as a high school student in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and was received into the Community two years later and given the name Sister Mary Matthew. She professed first vows on August 12, 1942, and final vows exactly five years later in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
As a young sister, she studied at the Precious Blood Teachers Institute and taught primary grades at St. Jerome School, Chicago, Illinois; St. Mary’s School in Steelton, Pennsylvania; and St. Joseph Croatian School in St. Louis.
She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in French from Saint Louis University in 1955 and 1958.
From 1958 to 1979, Sister Mary Matthew taught at St. Joseph Academy and the Precious Blood Teacher Training Institute in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and in 1972, at Lancaster Catholic High School as well. In addition to teaching, Sister Mary Matthew also directed Scholastics from 1973 to 1977.
She also served her community of Adorers throughout the 1970s and ‘80s as local coordinator for the motherhouse and St. Anne’s Home for the Aged, and as provincial councilor.
From 1989 to 1994, Sister Mary Matthew was administrator of Hispanic Ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a job she both loved and found challenging. The families she served would later refer to her as their “beloved mother.”
She also served in ministry at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from 1994 to 2008.
Sister Mary Matthew is survived by a step-brother, Leonard Kuzbel of Middletown, Connecticut; a niece, Karen Kessler, of Pittsburgh, and other nieces and nephews.
She is buried at the convent cemetery.
How fitting that Sr. Matthew died on the Feast of the Epiphany. I knew her during my years as ASC, and remember her for her great kindness to everyone, and her energy. She was remarkable. She was a great person.
Kind, compassionate, welcoming! Sr. Mary Matthew had so much energy! She breezed through the motherhouse like a breath of fresh air!