Sister Roberta Houlihan

Phyllis, fourth child and second daughter of Leo and Erma (Roth) Houlihan, was born on September 5,1926, in Peoria, Illinois. After graduating from St. Cecilia’s School, Phyllis attended the Academy of Our Lady. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on September 15, 1944, receiving the habit and the name Sister Roberta Cecile on March 19, 1945. She earned a bachelor’s in mathematics from Fontbonne College (1958); held a LIFE Certification in mathematics, secondary schools/MO (1958) and a master’s in counseling and guidance from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana (1966).

Sister Roberta began her ministry as an elementary teacher in St. Louis: St. Edward (1947), Our Lady of the Presentation, Overland (1947), St. Thomas of Aquin (1950) and St. Anthony of Padua (1951). She next taught at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago, Illinois (1955). Then, in 1959, she moved into secondary education at St. Joseph Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin, followed by Machebeuf High in Denver, Colorado. She returned to St. Louis as a counselor and teacher at Rosati-Kain High School (1964).

In 1974, S. Roberta ministered as a social worker for Catholic Social Services in Peoria. “I was hired … to work with the poor. That’s what I did. I had walk-ins ... I did adoptions, hard-to-place adoptions.” Next, she taught and was a counselor at the Academy of Our Lady/Spalding in Peoria (1978). She continued counseling at Peoria Notre Dame (1988). S. Roberta retired in 2007 but remained at Peoria Notre Dame as a counselor while adding family care to her ministry (2008). For more than 20 years, she served on many Cursillo teams and renewal weekends. She shared, “In Peoria, it’s not a Catholic thing, it’s an ecumenical thing and it’s one of the things that has opened me to the community in general, the whole church and not just us Catholics.” She moved to Nazareth Living Center in 2012.

In 1981, while Sister Maureen Langton was home in Peoria for the holidays, her mother died suddenly, two days before Christmas. S. Maureen was so grateful to S. Roberta for making her burden lighter during that difficult time:

Roberta showed up unexpectedly at Mom's apartment ... She immediately took over my role making phone calls announcing Mom's death, welcomed my relatives and guests, prepared lunch and dinner for me, etc.

Associate Peg Connolly shares:

S. Roberta was my mother’s cousin. She was always a role model for us. She was kind and thoughtful. When she visited Colorado, she would stay at our house. She had a large album of family photos. She prayed each morning for all of us. I will miss her gentle smile and support to me as an associate.

She was an inspiration for my vocation and recently taught me how to face diminishment cheerfully and gracefully. ‘Whatever Jesus wants’ was one of her mantras.
-S. Phyllis Bardenheier

During the raids of the chicken factories in Morton, Mississippi, S. Liz Brown remembers,

Roberta initiated a $.25 ‘Guess the number of tabs in the container’ contest. She raised $500 to benefit the undocumented workers in Morton. She never lost her sense of mission. Truly an inspiration! I am so grateful for her example.

From the very beginning of her religious life, S. Roberta was known as a person of positive thinking … very generous with her time and talents.-Srs. Pauline Oetgen, Helen Louise Williams, and Virginia Ross, members of her 1945 reception

If I were to describe our charism lived out, I consider Roberta its holy pattern. -S. Marilyn Peot