National reporter Matt Sedensky and video journalist Jessie Wardarski gave voice to the intense emotion within communities of Catholic nuns that have experienced devastating losses from outbreaks of the coronavirus. The Felician Sisters alone lost 21 of their own from four U.S. convents, a remarkable blow for a community of about 450 women.
This intimate look within the cloister showed the lasting effects of what the pandemic wrought — in this case, the most reverent found themselves questioning faith and how one might continue living when so many nuns didn’t.
Sister Rose Nellivila checks the blood pressure of Lorraine Catney, a resident of Villa Angela at St. Anne Home nursing facility in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
Felician Sister Mary Evelyn Labik waters flowers at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., June 22, 2020, in a photo provided by Sister Mary Jeanine Morozowich. Labik died after contracting COVID-19 last October.
Sister Mary Jeanine Morozowich via AP
wenty-one nuns from the Felician order in the U.S. who have died from COVID-19 are shown in a combination photo provided by Felician Publications in April 2021. Top row from left: Sisters Mary Clarence Borkoski, Mary Madeleine Dolan, Mary Felicia Golembiewski-Dove, Mary Alice Ann Gradowski, Victoria Marie Indyk, Mary Evelyn Labik and Celine Marie Lesinski. Middle row from left: Sisters Mary Seraphine Liskiewicz, Mary Christinette Lojewski, Mary Michele Mazur, Mary Bronisia Muzalewski, Christine Marie Nizialek, Mary DeAngelis Nowak and Mary Estelle Printz. Bottom row from left: Sisters Mary Patricia Pyszynski, Mary Martinez Rozek, Mary Danatha Suchyta, Thomas Marie Wadowski, Mary Luiza Wawrzyniak, Rose Mary Wolak and Mary Janice Zolkowski.
Felician Publications via AP
Sister Mary Carol Kardell of the Felician Sisters of North America dons goggles after morning Mass at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021. The community has lost 21 nuns to the coronavirus in four convents across the country, including Sister Mary Evelyn Labik of St. Anne.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
Sister Mary Carol Kardell of the Felician Sisters of North America sits beside a Bible, rosary beads and goggles during morning Mass at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021. Last October the nuns lost one of their own, Sister Mary Evelyn Labik, to the coronavirus.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
Nuns of the Felician Sisters of North America conclude morning prayers at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
Sister Mary Charlene Ozanick of the Felician Sisters of North America, right, laughs at a motivational quote written on a bar of soap given to her by a fellow nun at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
A resident of St. Anne Home attends morning Mass for nuns and residents of the nursing facility in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
Sister Mary Carol Kardell of the Felician Sisters of North America prays with rosary beads during morning Mass at St. Anne Home in Greensburg, Pa., March 25, 2021.
AP Photo / Jessie Wardarski
When Sedensky first started making calls on the story, he thought he’d have no problem finding sisters who’d talk about what they’d experienced. But as his calls and emails went unanswered, he started to doubt anyone would talk. “I kept widening my net more and more, but most of my messages remain unreturned to this day,” he said.
But he made some headway with a sister in the community that was hit perhaps hardest of all in the U.S.: the Felicians. A meaningful hourlong conversation with one Buffalo nun opened the door to multihour conversations with nuns elsewhere and, ultimately, with Sister Mary Jeanine Morozowich in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who had a level of introspection and eloquence that he knew could help drive this story.
Sedensky and Wardarski, both compassionate listeners, encouraged the openness of the sisters, helping introduce the pair to others at the St. Anne Home ministry in Greensburg. “Eventually two other sisters gave into my gentle pestering. And by the time Jessie and I paid a visit there, we were able to share moments and conversations with all of them,” Sedensky said.
Along the way, a couple of sisters told him that they felt better after their conversations.
The package, including Wardarski’s poignant visuals, found a receptive audience, with the social videos receiving more than 120,000 views on Twitter the first day. The AP pair received innumerable emails expressing how much the story moved readers. One email was headlined: “My tears flowed as I read your article.”
And a book publisher in California emailed: “Dear Matt Sedensky, Your article about the loss of these beautiful women will stay with me always. If ever there was an article that should be turned into a film, yours is one. You wrote it so beautifully and with such respect. I hope that happens for you, and for a world searching for meaning during this pandemic.”