By Rita McInerney

Sister Jean Liston, principal of Christ the King School for 12 years, has been elected superior general of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart. The congregation of approximately 240 sisters in the United States has its motherhouse in Yardley, Pa.

Sister Jean was elected Saturday, March 19, and will be installed in a special ceremony at the motherhouse on July 2. She will serve for five years, succeeding Sister Mary Charlotte Barton who served as superior general for nine years.

Sister Jean, a native of Lowell, Mass., entered the Grey Nuns in 1958. In her new post she will be in charge of the total congregation, its mission and ministry. The order is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and has as its motto, “All for Thee, O Heart of Jesus.”

Members of the congregation serve in the United States and in Anchorage and Kodiak, Alaska. At present, there are 14 Grey Nuns serving in the archdiocese of Atlanta.

Sister Jean, who returned March 21 from Yardley, said she is “very excited about her new job. Working with the sisters will open up new avenues…The role of religious women today is a very vital one and to be in a key position will be very exciting.”

In her new role of service to the Grey Nuns she sees her major task that of implementing the statement of mission formulated by the order. The main focus will be to “continue our work of influencing and promoting the Gospel message in the world.” Other important areas will be that of “educating ourselves and others to our responsibility to promote justice and peace,” and “making the works of Marguerite d’Youville more known to people with whom we work and serve.”

The Grey Nuns, founded by Marguerite d’Youville in Montreal, Canada in 1738, this year marks their 250th anniversary. The American province separated from Canada and became autonomous in 1921. The order was headquartered in Buffalo for one year before being invited by Cardinal Dennis Dougherty to come to Philadelphia in 1922. The congregation accepted and made its headquarters in Melrose Park before moving to Yardley in Bucks County in 1966.

Sister Jean had submitted her resignation as Christ the King principal on Feb. 4 of this year but had planned to remain in education. She called her election another way “God has worked in my life.”

Sister Jean’s “special gift for education” was recognized in the summer of 1986 when Christ the King School was selected as one of six Georgia Schools of Excellence. In all there were 270 schools around the country selected for the honor by the U.S. Department of Education.

Her philosophy is to see that each child receives the best Catholic education in a warm, loving environment. In an interview with the Georgia Bulletin at that time she said” “Every child is important, every child can take delight in learning and every child can succeed. We try to treat each child that way and have met with success. As a Catholic school, our most valuable contribution to the church is to develop responsible citizens who can become leaders in the church.”

Before coming to Christ the King in 1976, she served as principal of St. Rose of Lima School in Buffalo for six years and taught in Holy Angels School in Buffalo for six years. Before that she taught at Our Lady of Fatima and St. Joan of Arc schools in Jackson Heights, N.Y.