Sister Pat (Mary Cleta) Schlarman, ASC is celebrating 65 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. She made her first profession on July 1, 1956 and her final vows on July 1, 1961.
Sister Pat was born in Belleville, Illinois to Cletus and Dorothy Schlarman. She received her bachelor’s degree in Theology from Saint Louis University in 1968, and her master’s in Elementary School Administration and Supervision from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau in 1973. She also holds a Catechist certificate from the Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee, and a certificate in Spanish from the Universidad de Sagrado Corazon in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Sister Pat ministered as a teacher and sometimes also as principal in elementary schools for almost 25 years. She served at Holy Family in Cahokia, St. Mary in Taylorville, St. Clare in O’Fallon, Saints Peter and Paul in Waterloo, Damiansville Public School and St. Ann in Nashville, all in Illinois.
She also taught at St. Augustine in Kelso, Our Lady in Festus and St. Joseph in Zell, all in Missouri, as well as at St. Thomas in Memphis, Tennessee. She worked with the Peace and Justice Institute in St. Louis, then as a campus minister at Ozark College in Branson, Missouri while also serving as youth minister in Branson. Her Hispanic ministry began in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico where she was both teacher and administrator of Colegio Lourdes school.
She continued working with the Hispanic community in Dodge City, Kansas as pastoral associate of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Her expertise in Spanish was valuable in Cobden, Illinois at St. Joseph Parish where she served as Pastoral Minister and in Damiansville as teacher of English Language Learners.
Sister Pat was awarded the Regional Catholic Leadership Certificate in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau; the Colette Kennett Torch Award for her work with youth in the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois; and the James B. McGinnis certificate from the Institute for Peace and Justice in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Sister Pat lives at the Ruma Center, volunteering where she can and maintaining her outreach to Hispanic Catholics in the area.