SOAR! honors Sister Patricia Wolf
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Sister Patricia (Pat) Wolf, an innovator in meeting the needs of elderly religious women, received the Father Victor Yanitelli SJ Award for Service from SOAR! (Support Our Aging Religious) at the organization’s 40th anniversary dinner in New York City, New York, on Thursday, September 17.
Sister Maureen King of the Institute Leadership Team (ILT) introduced her and proclaimed Catherine McAuley would be “beaming with pride at your life of devoted service.”
Calling herself “amazed and humbled” to be honored, Pat thanked the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, family members, colleagues and friends who shared her journey. She also praised Father Yanitelli, “as a man [who]…was not constrained by what was the norm of his time.”
Her ministries have crisscrossed Catholic education, justice work and leadership. She noted, “I am drawn to be part of organizations or initiatives where the vision, mission and purpose enhance the dignity and well-being of people, especially the most vulnerable.”
She linked SOAR’s work with The Anna Trust, a new organization dedicated to the retirement needs of women religious worldwide. One of six sisters from Canada, Kenya, Mexico, the United States and Zambia invited to Rome, Italy, last summer by the trust, Pat said each of them has direct experience in caring collaboratively for aging women religious.
For her that meant building Marian Woods, an inter-congregational adult care facility for women religious in Hartsdale, New York, for Sisters of Mercy and four other religious orders in 2001. Carmelite Health System now sponsors the facility.
Her counterparts from Kenya and Zambia are creating a health network to better serve their aged members in communities where resources are scarce and opportunities for collaboration vary. “They had planned for active ministry but not for aging,” said Pat.
But a desire for dignity for their older sisters led them to make the “extraordinary effort” to change their thinking and find partners, such as the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to help them buy hospital beds, renovate bathrooms and address other aging challenges.
Forty years ago, many U.S. congregations—especially women’s orders—faced similar circumstances, Pat pointed out. A Wall Street Journal story about their plight led “people of means and influence, who had been educated by us, [to help us] chart a different path. SOAR! was created.”
Pat was surprised and touched to receive a $2,000 gift as SOAR’s Father Victor Yanitelli, SJ Award for Service recipient. The award is named for a Jesuit priest who served as a vicar for 35 parishes in Manhattan, New York, and as the president and chancellor of St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Pat served for 14 years in elected leadership positions with the Sisters of Mercy, including as president of the former New York Community. From that latter position, her vision of Marian Woods emerged. Her ministries have included serving as executive director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and president of St. Catharine’s Academy in the Bronx, New York.
Click here to read Pat’s biography.
Click here to read Pat’s remarks at the SOAR! anniversary dinner.