Obituary: Franciscan Sister Joan Gerads

Franciscan Sister Mary Joan Gerads, 93, died Jan. 25 at St. Francis Convent, Little Falls. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Francis Convent on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 11 a.m. Friends may call at St. Francis Convent on Friday, Jan. 31, from 4 to 8 p.m., with a Franciscan prayer service at 7 p.m., and from 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Saturday at 11 a.m. Mass will be livestreamed on YouTube: youtube.com/@FSLFvideos.

Genevieve (Jenny) Gerads was born Dec. 17, 1931, in St. Francis, the sixth of nine children born to Martin and Mary (Roettger) Gerads. She was accepted as a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls, Minnesota, Aug. 12, 1949, and given the name Sister Mary Joan. She made her first profession of vows Aug. 12, 1951, and final vows Aug. 12, 1954. She was a Franciscan Sister for 75 years.

She became a registered nurse at St. Gabriel’s School of Nursing, Little Falls; later, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in nursing education, and a doctorate in sociology.

Sister Joan ministered as staff nurse, supervisor and instructor; coordinated the first home care program at St. Gabriel’s Hospital, Little Falls; was assistant director of St. Gabriel’s School of Nursing; and director of health and social services in Maracay, Venezuela. During her 35 years as a missionary in South America, she was instrumental in founding four schools for leadership training. In 1975, she and Maryknoll Father Tom Maney founded Parish Neighborhood Renewal Ministry, a program that trains missionaries to form Base Church Communities in poor neighbors. She also offered the program in the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, which extended to other U.S. dioceses.

Sister Joan is survived by siblings Teresa Allen, Veronica Salazar and Marty Gerads and by nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, great-great-nieces and nephews, and her Franciscan Community.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers Paul (Cecilia) and Hubert (Elaine), and Gregory (Dorothea); sisters Elinor and Franciscan Sister Bertha, brothers-in-law Enrique Salazar and Jim Allen; and sister-in-law Virginia Gerads.

Donations to Franciscan Sisters ministries preferred.

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Author: The Central Minnesota Catholic

The Central Minnesota Catholic is the magazine for the Diocese of St. Cloud.

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