Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 7 — The Georgia Bulletin, May 31,1990
Georgia
ways In Sister Loretta Costa's Heart
BY PAULA DAY
Sister Loretta Costa, celebrating her
golden jubilee as a Sister of St. Joseph this
year, could be considered a rare variety.
She is a native Georgia Catholic.
Her parents, Lawrence and Loretta
Costa, came to Athens, Ga., from Ohio in
the early 1920s because there was "a good
market for Costa’s Delicious Ice Cream in
the South.” Mary Elizabeth, the oldest of
four Costa children, was born in 1923.
Her contact with the Sisters of St. Joseph
of Georgia began early. The Costa house
was home away from home for the
Religious women who came from
Washington, Ga. to teach vacation Bible
School in Athens. The family frequently
“Yes, we ate fish on Friday
and came to school late after
being in the Holy Thursday
procession.”
drove to Washington with ice cream treats
for the boys who lived under the Sisters
care at St. Joseph’s Home.
While Catholics were a distinct minority
in Georgia in the 1930s. Sister Loretta said
this fact never bothered them.
"Yes, we ate fish on Friday and came to
school late after being in the Holy Thurs
day procession, and didn’t even go to
school on Good Friday. We just rolled with
the punches.” She credits her parents
with giving her and her siblings a sense of
security and independence.
Since the Catholic church in Athens was
’mother church” for several missions, the
parish had Mass only once a month. On
other Sundays, Monsignor James King
would travel to Gainesville or LaGrange or
Griffin to offer Mass.
“Talk about missionary spirit,” she
recalls in admiration of her pastor. “In
those days, this meant driving over hot,
dusty roads without even a drink of
water.”
Sister Loretta says her vocation grew
out of her home. Her Irish Catholic mother
always prayed that one of her children
would have a religious vocation.
Mrs. Costa also wanted her daughter to
have a Catholic education, so as a seventh
grader young Mary Elizabeth went off to
Mount DeSales, a Catholic boarding school
in Macon. She “loved” her four years at
the school and the Sisters of Mercy there
fostered her budding vocation.
In 1939, after finishing the tenth grade,
she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Georgia in Augusta. The Augusta and St.
Louis, Mo., provinces of the congregation
joined in 1960 to become the Sisters of St.
Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province.
Sister Loretta has spent 40 of her 50
years as a Religious in Georgia, first as
teacher, principal, local superior, regional
superior and general manager of the
Village of St. Joseph. At the present time,
she manages St. Teresa Manor, a personal
care home for the elderly. For health
reasons, she will resign from St. Teresa’s
June 1.
During her years in Georgia, she was
assigned to schools in Savannah,
Brunswick, Valdosta, Milledgeville,
Augusta and Atlanta. For six years she
was based in Marietta and traveled
throughout 12 states along the eastern
seaboard as regional superior for her com
munity.
In her early years of teaching the
Church’s main thrust was also toward
social issues and working with the poor,
she said. She earned a bachelor ’s degree at
St. Catherine College in St. Paul and a
master's from St. Louis University, both in
sociology.
In Brunswick the Portuguese fishermen
would pay their children’s tuition in fresh
catch. She remembers a little girl bringing
a scrub bucket half full of fresh shrimp to
the convent door one Friday afternoon.
She admits she wouldn't mind a payment
like that today.
The Portuguese may have been poor.
Sister Loretta added, but they instilled in
their children a love of the Church and
pride in their heritage.
While she was teaching in Milledgeville
she was approached by a contemporary
who wanted to become one of her piano
students on the condition. “I won't have to
be in one of your stupid recitals.”
Flannery O’Connor played the piano a
lot like she wrote, according to Sister
Loretta. “She played meticulously, but
without a lot of feeling. She remained very
detached. I thoroughly enjoyed her as a
student."
The music teacher scheduled the now
celebrated writer for lessons at the end of
the day and afterward the two would
discuss contemporary Church issues.
“She was very traditional. She thought
afternoon Mass was ‘stupid’ and Mass in
English was 'dumb.' She’d go bonkers
now,” with all of the liturgical and other
changes in Church life. Sister Loretta con
cludes.
In her role as regional superior, the
woman Religious experienced a variety of
episcopal attitudes toward women in the
Church that deepened her commitment to
FAMILY PORTRAIT — Sister Loretta, right, is shown with her
brother, Jerry, and sisters Fran Conlon and Theresa Kearns at the
celebration in St. Louis.
EUCHARIST — Sister Loretta Costa gives Communion to woman
guest at St. Teresa Manor, a personal care home for the elderly spon
sored by Catholic Social Services of the archdiocese.
the women's movement. "For a long time
we have taken a back seat in Church mat
ters,” she says.
She supports such issues as equal pay
and equal job opportunities, through dona
tions and letter writing, according to her
longtime friend. Sister Angela Abood.
Sister Loretta charted new waters when
she took over as general manager at the
Village of St. Joseph, leaving the ad
ministrator free to focus on the home’s
residents and their needs. She admits the
task of overseeing the support staff, plan-
Flannery O’Connor played
the piano a lot like she wrote,
according to Sister Loretta.
“She played meticulously but
without a lot of feeling.”
ning meals and making purchases was a
challenge.
“She's a woman who’s very involved in
life,” commented Sister Helen Mick, a
Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kansas,
who is manager of St. Thomas Manor for
the elderly in College Park. “She makes
the most of every situation she’s in.
Sister Loretta’s greatest talent would
seem to be her generous concern and care
for others.
“She’s a very giving person in so many
ways,” Sister Angela Abood remarked. “I
don't drive and she’s always ready to take
me where I need to go.” And Sister Helen
Mick noted how caring Sister Loretta is of
the women at St. Teresa Manor.
“She’s in touch with what they go
through — present to them and caring of
them. They become her family. She’s the
same with the staff. She’s not separated
from them, and she’s so supportive of
others.”
At a Communion service for the women
at the Manor, Sister Loretta demonstrated
many of these qualities. The more able
women were asked to help those on
walkers or in wheel chairs.
She commented on the Scripture
readings of the day, pointing out, “ Don’t
be too hard on those coming into the
Church. Be loving, kind and gentle, that’s
what the apostle is saying. The lesson for
us is that there are times when what peo
ple do is going to bother us. But deep down
we must love one another.”
In March Sister Loretta, her brother
Jerry Costa, and two sisters, Fran Conlon
and Theresa Kearns, drove to St. Louis for
the congregation’s March 17 celebration
for its jubilarians. In early May she and
her brother spent two weeks in Italy, his
gift to her. She hopes to have a local
celebration at St. Anthony’s parish in
Atlanta Sept. 8.
"Painted Church" Safe From Lava,
Parishioners Seek New Location
BY PATRICK DOWNES
HONOLULU (CNS) - While
parishioners searched for a permanent
site, the Star of the Sea mission church re
mained high on a platform of stilts next to
a highway about two miles from where it
was plucked from the path of flowing lava
May 4.
Parishioners, most of them with houses
unaffected by the lava, wanted to find a
permanent site for the small church on the
big island of Hawaii so that liturgical ser
vices could be resumed in it.
Known as the “Painted Church”
because of colorful biblical scenes painted
on it interior walls, the building had been
on diocesan land some 25 yards from the
famed Black Sand Beach on the Pacific
Ocean.
Parish meetings with the pastor,
Maryknoll Father Robert Donnelly, and
diocesan and state officials have been held
in recent weeks to consider offers of land,
money and other assistance in resituating
the 60-year-old building.
Meanwhile, the 60-70 member congrega
tion of the Star of the Sea Mission has been
attending Sunday Mass at the parish’s
main church, Sacred Heart, in Pahoa,
about 10 miles inland.
At least five offers of land had been
made and church members were eager to
replace the building’s kitchen, pavilion
and restrooms, which were left at the
original site.
Civil defense officials were to help deter
mine the safest site in the area of the
Kilauea Volcano.
A moving crew lifted the church onto a
truck trailer a few hours before the lava
flowed over the only road out of the area.
Workers cut power lines and removed
overhanging tree branches to make room
for the building that measures 22-by-48 feet
and 33 feet high.