‘Sister PC’ celebrates her 50th

By Clarion Herald Staff

Daughter of Divine Providence Sister PierCarla Barone recently celebrated the golden jubilee of her first religious vows with a Mass and reception at St. Joan of Arc Church in LaPlace.

Sister PierCarla, known as Sister PC, was born in a small mountain town in the Abruzzi region of southern Italy. She entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Providence at the age of 19, and after three years of training was sent to Switzerland to minister to the children of Italian immigrants in that Protestant country.

In 1969, along with two other young sisters, Sister PierCarla came to the U.S., serving initially at Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish in Metairie. Not knowing English, she attended Dominican College in New Orleans for three years. She served for three years in inner-city schools in New Jersey and was called back to Rome in 1981, where she attended the international college, Regina Mundi. She opened a mission convent in India.

In the fall of 1984, Sister PierCarla returned to the U.S. and served at St. Mark Parish in Chalmette, where she was religious coordinator for the school and parish until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She was welcomed into St. Joan of Arc Parish by then-pastor Father Billy O’Riordan and Larry Bourgeois Jr., principal, in 2005.

She has served as religious coordinator for the school since then. She has also organized and led the school’s children’s choir, taught fifth-grade religion and coached a soccer team.

After the special Sept. 8 Mass, guests and the entire student body gathered in the Family Life Center for a reception. Principal Jeffrey Montz shared with the group the things each class loved about Sister PC, and students presented her with well wishes and spiritual bouquets from their classes.