Sister Mary Rita Smith, IHM

Rita Marie Smith was born in 1945 in Lock Haven, PA. She’s the daughter of Gertrude (“Gertie”) and Lewis Smith. The Smiths married later in life as both had their own careers – “Gertie” was a Nurse Anesthetist and Lewis was a Bricklayer. Rita is the oldest of five children (four girls and one boy).

Rita Marie experienced IHMs in various settings in and outside the classroom. She went to both IHM grade and high school (St. Agnes Grade School and Immaculate Conception High School). Rita and her mother often made baked goods for the Sisters. Sister Marie Imelda asked if she would be willing to be the cook at St. Agnes’ Convent. The Sisters didn’t help her learn how to cook – her mother did that (and she’s only a phone call away!). They’d just stop and check on her. She also observed the Sisters interacting at meals – the hospitality and joy.

Rita joined the IHMs in 1963, and three months later, President Kennedy was assassinated! At reception, Rita Marie became Sister Mary Rita.

Rita decided to be a math teacher (secondary education). While not a traditional exposure to math skills, baking and cooking involve all kinds of math skills, and bricklaying involves measuring, cost, and materials estimating. Rita had an interest in music and eventually got a guitar. All music is based on math – quarter note, half note, key signature, and tempo.

For fourteen years, Rita taught math at junior and senior high schools: St. Joseph’s in Williamsport; St. Agnes in Baltimore; St. Mary’s in Manhasset, and St. Dominic’s in Oyster Bay.

From 1978 to 1995, Mary Rita served as principal in three schools that ended with the IHMs pulling out of those schools. The sense of abandonment is often focused on the principal, who also, of course, is powerless. Her last assignment as principal lasted only a year. My sense is that her body finally said to her, “I need a break!”

Several months later, Mary Rita was healthy enough to return to ministry, but this was the time when sisters needed to find their own positions. She ended up making a major ministry change to a pastoral associate at Andrews Air Force Base. Though originally it was “the job she could find,” it ended up being her longest stay and her favorite ministry experience. Pastoral associates spend much of their time in RCIA and Religious Education, but, as the “Catholic Chaplain,” the ministry is ecumenical – chaplains of all faiths served at the base. While at the base, an opportunity to participate in a service trip to the Dominican Republic happened. Rita witnessed great compassion and experienced the empathy that comes from working with the poor. (Historically, this time period: 1996 – 2009 – included 9/11 and the Iraq War).

After one year in Sayre, Mary Rita became both pastoral minister and activity coordinator at the Marydale Retirement Village. At this point, Mary Rita needed both knees repaired, and that was followed by medical complications and stays at other medical facilities.

In 2015, Mary Rita returned to Scranton to tutor at the EEI and serve on the support staff at OLP. In 2016, sheadded St. Paul’s School to her multiple ministries – first, as the cashier, and now, as a math tutor.

Neither of Mary Rita’s parents reached the age of 70. She accomplished that goal 10 years ago, and this year, as she celebrates her 60th jubilee and her 80th birthday, this Scripture passage seems a good summary of her life: “70 is the sum of our years or 80 if we are strong.”