2026 Jubilee Spotlight

Gifted By God

SISTER MARIA DERECOLA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF religious life
IN THE PERFECT PLACE — among her sisters and students

Sister Maria Derecola entered the School Sisters of St. Francis from St. Gabriel Parish in Stowe, Pa., in 1973 and professed first vows in 1976. She celebrates her 50th Jubilee in 2026.

The beloved baby sister of rough-and-tumble Dominic and Anthony Derecola, little Maria was raised just three blocks from the church and school that were at the center of her homelife. “Going to Mass and participating in parish activities was very important to our family,” she remembers.

But it was as a 20-year-old elementary education major at Montgomery County Community College in Norristown, Pa., that Maria felt the undeniable tug toward religious life. And it happened at the most unexpected time: “One day, while driving along with a few of my college friends, I felt a very strong call that God was calling me to become a Sister,” Sister recalls.

The religious community she would enter was never in question. Maria had long been drawn to the joy she witnessed among the School Sisters who served at her home parish and who taught all eight grades in the adjoining parish school. In fact, during her days at St. Pius X High School in Pottstown, Pa., she would no sooner step off the school bus than hurry over to the familiar hallways of St. Gabe’s to help the Sisters in their classrooms.

It wouldn’t be long before she had her own classroom, teaching second grade at St. Cyril & Methodius in Bethlehem, Pa., while she was still a postulant. She immediately fell in love with teaching and remains deeply passionate about her work today. “I have found teaching to be very fulfilling,” Sister Maria says. “It is a very special way of sharing God’s love with children and helping them to be good Christians and citizens in our world today.”

Sister went on to teach at St. Theresa School in Hellertown, Pa., and at St. Ann School in Emmaus, Pa., before returning for a second stint at SS. Cyril & Methodius. Then, for 13 years, she worked with preschoolers and kindergarteners at St. Francis Daycare Center, also in Bethlehem.

“She infuses her curriculum and daily lessons with Gospel values,” observes Sister Carol Ann Papp, whose ministry career has overlapped with Sister Maria’s several times over the years. “Whether the students are in the classroom, on the playground or at lunch, she helps them to see that God is always with them.”

Since 2001, Sister Maria has found a home in her classroom at St. Matthias School in Somerset, N.J., breaking only briefly to care for her ailing mother back home in Stowe. Her niche has been and still is teaching second grade and preparing the parish’s Communion Class each year.

“Teaching young children has been a gift to me. They reflect God’s love, and their innocence is truly a gift from God.” she says. “Their love for Jesus is so real and simple.”

She carries on our community’s heritage of sharing both classroom curriculum and spiritual lessons to prepare Catholic school students to receive the Sacraments and take on the real world.

“Because she has a deep love for the Mass and for the Rosary, Maria is able to instill in her First Communion classes the belief that they are truly loved by God,” Sister Carol Ann affirms. “They also learn from her the importance of turning to Mary in times of need.”

Sister Maria’s work pays tribute to the earliest days of our congregation’s presence in the United States — dating back some 113 years — as teachers and caregivers to the young children of Eastern European immigrants. There are far fewer Catholic schools these days, but the mission continues.

“I love that I can personally carry on our mission of teaching and forming young minds into citizens and disciples of Christ,” Sister Maria says. “The children bring joy, innocence and a love of learning. They are a blessing from God to me and to our school.”

She’s been known to meet the kids where they are by joining them in their favorite activities or — during a recent moment of temporary insanity — bravely allowing a skateboarder to jump over her outstretched body during a school assembly. In more reasonable moments, she loves to dance, go for walks, and visit with family and friends. Reading has crossed over from mere hobby to full-on obsession, as the list she keeps of books she’s read now numbers more than 900!

Her blood also runs a little green with a passion for the Philadelphia Eagles that she inherited from her dad. “My dad was a big Eagles fan, and I would sit with him at home and watch the games,” she fondly recalls. “He even had a season ticket he purchased after World War II for $12!” Today, she brazenly expresses her love of the team, even while living and working among fans of the New York Giants and Jets.

NFL Sunday or not, Sister Maria is most energized year-round by the young faces who await her each Monday morning. “Every day, I can see the face of God in each student,” she says. “They are a bright sign of what’s important in life.”

From her earliest days in Stowe, the Sisters who mentored young Maria at her beloved St. Gabe’s showed her along a well-forged trail. Now 73 and in her Golden Jubilee year, she has made a path beyond their footsteps and found her own way to God. “When I first entered religious life, I followed the formal structure in developing a prayer life,” she explains. “Over the years, I have continued to develop my personal relationship with God through my own prayer life and in my ministry.”

That prayer life has brought her to an unmovable, unwavering conclusion, simple advice she’d offer her younger self — or to anyone she encounters today: “Continue to trust God … in all aspects of your life.”