Sister Mary Joyce Bringer

Sister Mary Joyce Bringer, baptized Joyce Elizabeth, was born in Peoria, Illinois, to Cecelia and Paul Bringer. Her siblings were Robert Bringer and her twin sister, Judy Bringer Cirbo.

She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph a year after graduating from the Academy of Our Lady in Peoria in 1955, where the Sisters of St. Joseph served. Her reception was the first group to go to Fontbonne College in St. Louis as part of the juniorate program. She received a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1960 and a master’s degree in liturgy from Notre Dame University in 1969.

Sister Mary Joyce served 45 years in education. She began teaching in 1960 at Little Flower Grade School in Mobile, Alabama. She moved to St. Roch’s Grade School in Indianapolis in 1963. She went north to St. Paul’s Grade School as principal in Negaunee, Michigan, from 1967 to 1975. During that time, in 1972, she earned her master’s in administration from Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Her next mission was as principal at St. John the Evangelist School in Valdosta, Georgia, until 1980. She then taught at Immacolata Grade School for two years before returning to Little Flower Grade School in Mobile, where she served as principal for the next 23 years.

In 2005, Sister Mary Joyce returned to her former convent, now the Little Flower Parish Office, where she has served as a parish minister. Her various roles include altar server scheduling, secretary of Parish Council and Liturgy Committee, and head of weekday lunches for the poor and homeless. She also serves as a eucharistic minister and lector, and keeper of parish and school picture albums.

She has been associated with Keep Mobile Beautiful for 40 years, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful that empowers individuals to end littering, improve recycling and beautify their community. She also enjoys yard work and the monthly Parish Garden Club.

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