Sister Anna Bridget Kearns, CSJ
May 19, 1930 - November 3, 2022
May 19, 1930 - November 3, 2022
Optimist, tireless worker, shining star
Anna Patricia, the seventh of nine children, was born at home on May 19, 1930, to Timothy and Johanna (Bartley) Kearns of Augusta, Georgia. She attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy, a grade and high school staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She entered the Georgia province in 1947, receiving the habit and the name Sister Anna Bridget the following year.
Her first ministry was teaching primary grades at Sacred Heart Grade School in Atlanta (1950), followed by Sacred Heart in Savannah (1952). She continued teaching mostly primary in various Georgia schools: St. Francis Xavier, Brunswick (1953); St. John the Evangelist, Valdosta (1955); and again at both Sacred Heart schools in Atlanta (1957) and Savannah (1959). That same year, she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Fontbonne College in St. Louis.
Her next two assignments were on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. She began teaching primary and intermediate classes at St. Anthony in Kailua (1960) and then junior high at St. Joseph in Waipahu (1964). She went on to earn her master’s in elementary education from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu in 1969. At various times, she also studied at Xavier University in New Orleans, where she was taught by and became friends with Sister Thea Bowman. She studied at Christian Brothers University in Memphis as well.
Sister Anna returned to the mainland to St. Louis to teach at Holy Guardian Angels School (1969), followed by St. Roch School (1970). In 1973, she moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts, a Boston neighborhood, and taught at St. Joseph Community School until 1981. She returned to Atlanta to teach at Our Lady of Lourdes. Two years later, she became principal. Her office was across the street from the King Center. Over time, she became friends with Martin Luther King’s family, Coretta and her children, and also Sister Helen Prejean. S. Anna Bridget felt her life was enculturated with the Black community mentioning that non-violence is “a way of life, not a series of events. You have to internalize that and everything that you do has to come from that stance if you are really going to be non-violent.”
In 1989, after a year-long sabbatical, S. Anna continued teaching in Atlanta at St. Anthony’s until 1993. She went back to St. Francis Xavier, where she completed her teaching ministry and retired in 2006.
S. Anna remained in Brunswick and served as a volunteer, helping the homeless and those in hospice care and shut-ins. She also spent one day a week at St. Francis School, helping the third grade teacher whom she taught in third grade. In 2019, S. Anna moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis to carry out her mission of prayer and presence.
Referring to her life as a CSJ, she said:
It has been a blessing every step of the way, and I couldn’t have asked for more support from the community, approbation, whatever. People are so appreciative of whatever you do, and the community is, too. Whatever they ask me to do, I try.
By Sister Helen Oates
Sister Anna Bridget Kearns' recordings are available.
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