‘It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain’ (John 15:16)
CANTON — Sister Mary Ruth renewed her “yes” to Jesus for the 66th year in a row Aug. 11 during Mass at Immaculate Conception Mission.
Sister Mary Ruth took her perpetual vows as a religious on Aug. 11, 1959, after having made temporary vows three years prior, on Aug. 11, 1956.
In the summer of 1992, Sister Mary Ruth and her two fellow sisters, Sister Mary Isabel and Sister Mary Celine, came to the North Carolina mountains. In the fall of 1993, they founded St. Joseph Academy in a borrowed house in Waynesville while the present school building was under construction.
The land for the school was donated by Sister Mary Ruth’s father, and he and other family members and friends donated the money for construction. The school moved from Waynesville to the new building in Maggie Valley during Thanksgiving 1995.
Sister Mary Celine went to receive her eternal reward in 1994 while on a pilgrimage in Fatima, Portugal. Sister Mary Isabel was working and active in the school until 2008, and she passed to eternal life on June 29, 2017.
The Independent Catholic School of St. Joseph Academy, which teaches kindergarten through eighth-grade students, is blessed with a number of benefactors and volunteers.
Both Haywood County parishes (St. John the Evangelist Church in Waynesville and its mission in Canton, and St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley) support the school.
“What a gift to have Sister Mary Ruth in our presence today,” Father Richard Sutter, parochial administrator of Immaculate Conception Mission, said at Mass. “Her 66 years of ‘yes’ to Jesus and His call to her heart is an inspiration for us all. Let us pray a Hail Mary in thanksgiving for Sister Ruth, Sister Mary Celine, Sister Mary Isabel, and men and women religious throughout the world whose lives bear much fruit – the type of fruit that remains beyond this life; the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit: goodness, kindness, gentleness, generosity, peace, patience, joy, charity, modesty, chastity, faithfulness and self-control. Amen.”
Sister Mary Ruth is pictured with Father Sutter and longtime parishioner Gail Webb.
— Photos provided by Immaculate Conception Mission