Sister Theresa Pitruzzello, CSJ, Professes Final Vows

Sister Theresa Pitruzzello, CSJ, professed final vows in the Congregation of St. Joseph on Saturday, August 8th in Ignatius Chapel at Loyola University in New Orleans. The 3 p.m. liturgy was followed by a reception. Sister Marie Hogan, Sister Jean Masterson, and Sister Jeanne Cmolik, members of the congregational leadership team, and Fr. Paul Schott, SJ, presider, formally accepted Sister Theresa’s commitment.

Sister Theresa, born and reared in Huntsville, Alabama, is one of three daughters of Mike and Mary Pitruzzello. After high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music therapy at Loyola University in New Orleans where she worked for three years as a music therapist at Chateau de Notre Dame Nursing Home while discerning a call to religious life. Her religious vocation sprang from the seeds planted by two sisters who taught her in elementary school and from the support of her parents.

In 2002, Sister Theresa professed first vows in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, one of seven founding congregations of the Congregation of St. Joseph, which was established in 2007 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Sister Theresa has ministered as liturgy coordinator at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Slidell, Louisiana, and as music and art teacher at St. Rita Elementary School in Harahan, Louisiana.

Sister Theresa completed a master’s of pastoral studies at Loyola in 2008 and currently uses her musical talent and training to minister to senior citizens at the Catholic Charities PACE Center in New Orleans.