Sister Joan Marie McCann (Madeline Marie)- 60th Jubilee

Written on: May 6, 2020

Sister Joan Marie’s encounter with Grey Nuns came about when sisters came to Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook, PA, where she worked as an x-ray technician.  Prior to that she had only observed the sisters walking on Old York Road. Meeting the sisters at Holy Redeemer inspired her to enter the congregation. After some years of teaching, she received her RN from Sacred Heart Hospital in Reading and her BSN at LaSalle University. Sister Joan served as a manager in the Rehabilitation unit of St. Mary’s Hospital, Langhorne, PA, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta and in Hospice Care at Keystone Home Care in Bucks County. Following an illness and a kidney transplant, she began volunteering at the Gift of Life Family House, a residence for patients undergoing transplants and their families. In her first years as a volunteer, she drove patients or their families to and from their hospital visits. This work put her in contact with people from all over the country and all over the world. Her most precious memory of that ministry? When she drove the wife of a man whom she realized had received a kidney from one of our sister Grey Nuns. Joan is a resident at Holy Redeemer Lafayette and continues to volunteer at Gift of Life. 

My response to God’s persistent call to Religious Life for sixty years, in particular to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, has been filled with joy, blessings, challenges and peace. The privilege of serving in our congregational missions as a teacher was enjoyable and sometimes challenging.  I had always longed to serve in the field of health care and this goal was accomplished as Nurse Manager on the Rehabilitation Unit at St. Mary Medical Center and also as a Home Care Nurse at Keystone Home Care/Hospice and Lower Bucks Hospital, all in Pennsylvania.  Presently I volunteer at Gift of Life Family House in Philadelphia, PA, a place where those who are either waiting for an organ transplant or those who have been blessed with a transplant, as I have, can stay at minimal cost. This involves family support and care which God has enabled me to accomplish for 8 years as a daughter of St. Marguerite d’Youville, Mother of Universal Charity, a true model in caring for God’s poor and needy.

“My response to God’s persistent call to Religious Life for sixty years, in particular to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, has been filled with joy, blessings, challenges and peace.”

This entry was posted in Our 2020 Jubilarians and tagged: blessings, challenges, Gift of Life Family House, God, health care, Holy Redeemer Hospital, Holy Redeemer Lafayette, Hospice Care, joy, Keyston home care, kidney transplant, LaSalle University, Mother of Universal Charity, needy, nurse manager, Old York Road, organ transplant, peace, persistent call, poor, priviledge, Sacred Heart Hospital Reading PA, St. Josehp Hospital Atlanta, St. Marguerite d'Youville, X-Ray technician