[Silver Spring, MD] The board of directors of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has appointed Sister Joan Marie Steadman, CSC the organization’s executive director. She will assume the position on January 1, 2015, after the current executive director Sister Janet Mock, CSJ finishes her three-year term on December 31.
A Sister of the Holy Cross of Notre Dame, Indiana, Sister Joan Marie recently completed a five-year term as president of her community and had served previously in community leadership for 10 years. Some of her previous ministries have included: associate director of healthcare ethics at the Markula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University; vice-president for mission at Holy Cross Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; regional executive team member at Holy Cross Health Services of Utah; pastoral associate at St. Therese Parish, Fresno, California, and St. Elizabeth Parish, Richfield, Utah; novice director for her community, and administrator and teacher in several elementary and secondary schools.
Sister Joan Marie holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Saint Mary College, Notre Dame, Indiana, and a master of arts degree in spirituality from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She currently serves as a member of the board of the Loyola University Health System in Chicago, and has served on several hospital boards, as well as the board of Saint Mary College, Notre Dame.
“Sister Joan Marie’s extensive ministerial background and her experience in religious life leadership will be valuable assets to LCWR,” said the conference’s president Sister Sharon Holland, IHM. “US religious life is in a period of significant transformation, and the Leadership Conference is fully committed to providing our members with the resources needed in these critical times. We feel confident that Sister Joan Marie will lead the conference with great wisdom and skill."
LCWR has more than 1400 members who are elected leaders of their religious orders, representing approximately 80 percent of the 51,600 Catholic sisters in the United States. The conference develops leadership, promotes collaboration within church and society, and serves as a voice for systemic change.
A high-resolution version of the above photo of Sister Joan Marie is available
Contact: Annmarie Sanders, IHM – LCWR Director of Communications
asanders@lcwr.org
301-588-4955; 301-672-3043 (cell)
