Former CCHS teacher
BELMONT — Mercy Sister Mary Regina Werntz, 76, died March 11, 2021, at Sacred Heart Convent in Belmont. She had been professed as a Sister of Mercy for 59 years.
A private Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Belmont. Sister Regina has donated her body to science with final interment in Dallas, Pa., among the Sisters of Mercy.
Born on Jan. 9, 1945, she was the daughter of Joseph M. Werntz and Constance Witt Werntz of Shamokin, Pa. After attending St. Joseph’s School in Shamokin and St. Cyril Academy in Danville, Pa.,
Regina entered the Sisters of Mercy of Dallas, Pa., in 1962.
Following completion of her novitiate studies, she graduated from Misericordia College in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education with a concentration in music. From 1966 to 1977, Sister Regina taught at Catholic elementary schools in Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre and Lancaster, Pa.; and Bayside, Bethpage and West Islip, N.Y.
After earning a master’s degree in theological studies from the University of Dayton in 1981, she taught high school religion classes at Mount de Sales in Macon, Ga.; Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, Pa.; Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Barre; and Charlotte Catholic High School in Charlotte.
Sister Regina developed her communication skills as a staff writer for Union Scope at the Mercy Union Administration Center in Potomac, Md.; at TSM Creative Services in Pittsburgh; and as director of communications for the Dallas (Pa.) Regional Community.
She and Mercy Sister Mary Ann Brady were co-founders of RSM Creative Services, a unique service that provided hospitals and other Mercy ministries with materials to train lay staff in the spirit and heritage of the Sisters of Mercy. This led to serving in mission effectiveness offices at St. Edward’s Hospital in Fort Smith, Ark.; St. John’s Regional Health Center in Springfield, Mo.; and the Development Office at Mercy Health Center in Baltimore.
Her most recent years of ministry were spent in service to the Sisters of Mercy as a community life coordinator at Mercy Villa retirement convent in Baltimore and in the South Central Archives in Belmont.
Sister Regina was multi-talented and shared her gifts freely. She wrote a book of the sisters’ history, “Our Beloved Union: A History of the Sisters of Mercy of the Union,” published in 1989. She was steeped in Mercy history and loved to share stories about the order. She also played the piano with feeling and wrote numerous hymns based on scripture. Always interested in learning, she looked forward to attending the annual Scripture Institute each summer at Misericordia University in Dallas. In all things, she was creative, knowledgeable, compassionate, generous and outgoing.
Sister Regina was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Philip, Norman and Joseph.
She is survived by her sister-in-law, Barbara Werntz Benjock, and nieces Linda Slagle of Hickory and Angela Werntz of Belmont.
Memorials may be sent to Sacred Heart Convent, 500 Sacred Heart Circle, Belmont, N.C. 28012 (care of: Mercy Sister Lee Ann McNally).
— Catholic News Herald