Our Retired Sisters: Spreading the IHM Spirit

Our IHM Sister never truly retire. We use the term “retired” when they no long minister at specific sites. However, they continue to live the “IHM Spirit” with unwavering dedication. Today, the number of Sisters who are retired and need assistance is growing
significantly, and the costs are skyrocketing. The best plans and budgets could not have foreseen today’s circumstances. That is why we need your help.

Sister Mary Pio Ferrario

For Sister Mary Pio Ferrario, the road to becoming an IHM Sister was as clear as the math equations she taught for many years. Growing up attending Catholic schools in Scranton, she found that the kindness of her Sister/teachers, the way they helped and mentored their students, and a special calling from God led her to become an IHM Sister. She began teaching, and as she taught different math classes, she kept her traveling shoes on! She taught at St. Ann’s on Scranton’s West Side. She taught high school in New Bern, North Carolina, La Plata, Maryland, St. John’s in Pittston, and at Bishop Hoban (now Holy Redeemer) in
Wilkes-Barre. She even tutored on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii for ten summers.

Her greatest joy is to see how far her students have come, and what they have done with their lives. Quite a few are teachers — and one even taught side-by-side with Sister. One is studying to become a priest, one conducts the Scranton Choral Society in
her free time, another is a foot doctor, and so on. She states, “I am proud of playing a small part in helping them reach success in their lives.”

Sister Mary Pio, fourth from the left, with family and friends at the Sisters of IHM Foundation Dinner.

Through her kindness and gentle guidance, she has spread the IHM Spirit to many people, and she continues to do so. She crochets the most beautiful baby blankets for the IHM Heartworks Gift Shop and upon request. W hile going for the dialysis treatment she now receives three times a week, she still prays for her students and the positive impact their lives have on our region and our world.

Sister Anne Mary Boslett

Sister Anne Mary Boslett felt a calling to join the IHM Sisters when she was very young, attending Catholic grade school in Spangler, Pennsylvania. She went on to a public high school and, after graduation, an office job with the Peale, Peacock, and Kerr mining company. However, she soon found her way back to the IHM Sisters.

Once she joined the IHM Community, she became a teacher. Like Sr. Mary Pio, Sister Anne Mary also traveled quite a bit. At first, it was just down the road to teach grade school in Sugar Notch. Her teaching ministry then brought her to Nyack, New York, Hastings, Pennsylvania, Indian Head, Maryland, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.

She is most proud of teaching the children about prayerful meditation. She states, “They didn’t know anything about it, or how to do it.” Under her leadership, they learned the importance of prayer, asked for prayerful meditation times, and incorporated the practice into their lives.

Later, Sister studied to be a spiritual director in Canada, and then returned to Pennsylvania – moving to Cresco in the Poconos to lead the IHM Sisters’
Retreat House. There, she continued to help people looking for spiritual guidance. As she describes, “We never told them what to do. We listened and helped them find their own solutions.

Throughout her life in ministry and community, Sister expressed her belief that she shouldn’t ask others to do something she wouldn’t do herself. Even as she eased into retirement, she still worked for a local company reaching out to senior citizens who were alone and isolated.

Throughout her life in ministry and community, Sister expressed her belief that she shouldn’t ask others to do something she wouldn’t do herself. Even as she eased into retirement, she still worked for a local company reaching out to senior citizens who were alone and isolated.

You Can Help

Although these Sisters are no longer able to be in full-time ministry, both continue to live the IHM Spirit – praying for all of God’s people and showing kindness in everything they do.

Learn more about our retired IHM Sisters during the August 3rd Virtual Sisters Celebration. Help and support are needed to care for those who touched the lives of so many. You can help by becoming a sponsor. Just fill out the form online. It’s that
simple.