By Paula Day

After 22 years in St. Mary’s School and parish in Rome, the Daughters of Charity are leaving.

During that time they have served the Rome community as administrators in the school, teachers and teachers’ aides, directors of religious education and in outreach to the Hispanic population and the elderly in nursing and private homes.

Catholics and non-Catholics alike will recognize these contributions at a reception, Mass and dinner Saturday, June 12.

“It’s the most painful thing I have ever had to do,” commented Sister Regina Hlavac, DC. The principal of St. Mary’s for the past four years said those have been “the happiest years of my life” and she is leaving a “top-notch faculty who have become my family.”

The charism of the Daughters of Charity is one of service to the poor, Sister Hlavac explained. The decline in vocations to Religious life necessitates the regular reevaluation of the congregation’s use of personnel. Since a recent study made it clear that a competent lay leadership in the Rome school was in place, the congregation realized it would be leaving at an optimum time for the community. The Emmitsburg, Md., province of the Daughters of Charity is committed to minister in the southeastern region of the United States, an area made up of Washington, D.C., the Virginias, Carolinas, Georgia and Floridas.

Many of the 25 Religious who have served at St. Mary’s over the years will be returning for the farewell program according to Barbara Triplet, secretary to Sister Hlavac. They will be welcomed Friday evening June 11, with a social and be the overnight house guests of families whose lives they have touched.

A reception Saturday afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. at the school is open to the public, followed by a 4 p.m. Liturgy at St. Mary’s Church. A dinner and program honoring the Religious will be at 6:30 p.m. Reservations for the dinner may be made by contacting Mrs. Triplet at 234-4953.