Current Ministry Location: Maryknoll Sisters Center-Maryknoll, NY
Sister Elizabeth Erbland was born in Fairport, NY and graduated from the State University of New York at Geneseo with a B.S. in Elementary Education and certification in Special Education through grade 12. She taught in Binghamton and Fairport, NY before entering the Maryknoll Sisters in 1963. Her brother, Fr. Philip Erbland, M.M., was in the Maryknoll Seminary when she entered.
In 1966 Sister Elizabeth was assigned to the Philippines where she served in the Child Study Center of Maryknoll College. The following year she was assigned to the Maryknoll Sisters High School in Panabo, Davao del Norte where she taught religion, music, and English.
Returning to the States in 1972, Sister Elizabeth worked in the Congregation’s Mission Projects Funding office as well as in the World Awareness Program. Following this service, she became a member of the Eastern U.S. Region. Moving to Rochester, NY to be closer to her ailing father, Sister Elizabeth served in the Diocesan Education Office as Assistant Superintendent for Urban Education. In 1985 she was appointed Director of the Development Department of the Maryknoll Sisters.
In 1991, Sister Elizabeth and Sister Suzanne Moore studied Spanish in Cochabamba, Bolivia in order to prepare for their future work on the Texas/Mexican border in 1992. For one year, Sister Elizabeth was Director of Religious Education at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in McAllen, TX. After that for two years Sister Elizabeth worked at a residential treatment center for boys and girls who were in the Texas Juvenile Justice System. After the program closed, Sister Elizabeth worked at a public high school near McAllen. From 2000 – 2008 Sister Elizabeth was on family ministry in Warren, PA with a brother who suffered from cancer.
In 2009, Sister Elizabeth and Sister Suzanne Moore moved to Asheville, NC where they worked with Catholic Social Services assisting with food and clothing distribution to needy clients. Sister Elizabeth also taught English as a Second Language to refugees from the Ukraine.
Sister Elizabeth moved back to Maryknoll in 2010, where she worked in the Sisters Library until 2016. She continues to live at the Maryknoll Sisters Center doing volunteer outreach in the community.