2024 Jubiliarian
“I think being a Christian means that you open your heart and soul to everybody you meet,” says Sister Patti (Marie Dominic) Rossi, reflecting on experiences as a missionary.
Sister Patti spent 15 years working to reduce poverty and disease in a remote jungle village in Brazil where she gained a “sense of simplicity” and “tenderness” by facing joys and challenges alongside the indigenous people.
“As a new missionary, I thought I was going to convert the world, but the world converted and changed me,” she says.
She served as parish minister at St. Veronica in Ambridge before embarking on a nine-year mission in Jamaica where she trained teachers. She later continued her passion for children and families in developing countries as Associate Director of the Altoona-Johnstown Mission Office.
Whether offering supplies in Haiti or welcoming asylum seekers in Texas, Sister Patti is “completely available” to the dear neighbor. She volunteers teaching English as a Second Language and helps at Sandyvale Greenhouse, St. Vincent de Paul, and Mom’s House childcare center where she’s known as “grandma-sister.”
Send a note to Sister Patti or make a donation in her honor.