Canon lawyer, historian Sister Joan de Lourdes Leonard dies at 88

Published: 2004-01-15

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. (CNS) -- A funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 8 at Sacred Heart Chapel in Brentwood for historian and canon lawyer Sister Joan de Lourdes Leonard, a Sister of St. Joseph. She died Jan. 4 at age 88. In 70 years of religious life, she led the Sisters of St. Joseph through a decade of renewal, chronicled the history of the Rockville Centre Diocese, and was the first woman appointed to the diocese's marriage tribunal. Her work for the church nationally included membership on the U.S. bishops' National Advisory Committee and on the board of the national Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She also served as secretary-treasurer of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and as chairwoman of the LCWR committee that in 1983 produced a book, "Women Religious History Sources," which compiled the archival resources of women's religious congregations.

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