Sister Carolyn Moritz

Current Mission Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center – Maryknoll, NY

Carolyn Moritz was born in Chicago, Illinois March 13, 1940 in Chicago, IL to Marjorie (Biernacki) Moritz and Francis (Frank) Moritz. She was the oldest of four daughters. Her sisters were Frances, Gloria and Lorraine. Carolyn attended St. Joseph Grammar School and High School, graduating in 1957 and entered the Felician Sisters, the congregation which had taught her. In the Felician Congregation, she made her First Vows in 1959 and her Final Vows in 1965. Carolyn received a BS in Chemistry with minors in Math and Education from Mundelein College, in 1963. Her ministry during her time as a Felician consisted of seven years of Grade School and High School teaching in the Cicalo area and an eleven-year assignment to the School of Mary Immaculate in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During that time, she taught the children of U.S. State Department and Corporation Families. It was in these years she was able to study during three summers at the University of Missouri/School of Mines and Metallurgy, and received a Master’s in Chemistry in 1973.

In1979, Carolyn returned to the U.S., traveling through Bolivia and Peru, where she met the Maryknoll Sisters. In Chicago, she received a Master’s in Religious Education from Loyola University in 1980 and began her discernment to transfer to Maryknoll, which she did on August 10, 1981. Carolyn pronounced her vows in Maryknoll on December 11, 1982. She was assigned to Chile where she worked in Parish Ministry, Family Catechism, youth and liturgy, and accompanied Base Christian Communities. She also worked for three years as the secretary to Chilian Theologian, Sergio Torres.

In 1990 the Maryknoll Sisters were invited by the Maryknoll Society to be part of a Maryknoll Collaborative Mission Community with the Society and Lay Missioners. Carolyn with two other Maryknoll Sisters and a Maryknoll Associate Sister, joined the Brazil Mission Community as the First Maryknoll Sisters in Brazil. Carolyn’s ministry involved training Catechists and liturgy in a parish setting, working with several small communities in two parishes. She returned to the U.S. at the end of 1997 to do Congregational service in Mission Education and Promotion in Franklin Park, Illinois and gave mission talks in parishes and schools throughout the Midwest.

In 2002, Carolyn returned to Brazil to the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo. Carolyn became part of a Parish Team on the periphery of the city. Her work was training catechists and lay ministers in seven Parishes. She gave retreats to the laity in these parishes, and accompanied a small group, called the Fraternidade Missionaria de Emaus, which was founded by her Pastor, and which was called to live out the vocation of all Christians to be missionary by their Baptism. They continue today feeding, clothing the evangelizing the homeless on the streets of Sao Paulo. Besides P

arish Ministry, Carolyn became a member of the Sao Paulo Archdiocesan Mission Council. This Council is an official part of each Diocese set up by the Brazilian Bishop Conference. As a member of this group, she worked helping all Catholics realize their missionary vocation as baptized Christians. Carolyn wrote articles for the Archdiocesan Newspaper, the “O Sao Pailo” and in 2013 became the Council’s Coordinator until 2015.

In 2005, Carolyn Began her work in the small Guarani Indigenous village on the northwestern edge of Sao Paulo. The village was basically a slum with many health problems. Carolyn began introducing the Children’s health program, Pastoral da Crianca, which trains women to help with children’s health issues from prenatal to 6 years of age. A team of women was assembled from the parishes close by and they began the work of visiting the Guarani women, evaluating the situation and initiating health and nutritional education in the Village. Sister Carolyn was a member of a five-person team in the Archdiocese, which met regularly and accompanied the various indigenous groups in the Arch diocese of Sao Paulo.  At the beginning of the work in the village there was poor medical accompaniment by the government. When it was discovered that children had died due to lack of medical help the group began with the work of the Pastoral.  The Chief (Paje) of the village gave permission to visit the women and begin the work of weighing the children and teaching nutrition and health. In the 10 years Carolyn worked there, the group was able to teach good health and hygiene, get a communal kitchen set up, visit and accompany children and mothers. The city government also staffed a clinic, which took over the initial accompaniment of the women and children, allowing the Pastoral da Crianca to focus on the visits to the families.

Carolyn returned to the U.S. to work in Mission Projects Funding from 2016 to 2020 and as Mission Institute Business Manager from 2020-2023. Sister is currently retired at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll, N.Y.