Sister Rita was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, and has had many and varied ministries since joining the Mission Helpers in 1962. 
 
“Some people settled into a certain ministry and stayed with that,” she says, “but Mother Regis always told me that I was ‘adaptable,’ so she sent me wherever there was a need.  Back in those days we had no choice as to where we went.”
 
She feels fortunate to have been raised in a neighborhood where there were many ethnicities, religions and cultures.  “Our parents taught us how to appreciate all those different groups, so I was ready to move around the country meeting new people and situations.”
 
During her early ministries in the southwest, Sr. Rita served as Director of Faith Formation in several parishes in the Dioceses of Pueblo, Colorado; San Antonia, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona.  She and other Sisters were on what she calls the “mission circuit,” traveling around the region to small parishes, training people in catechetics, preparing them to teach religion to the children of the parish.
 
While in Tucson, she also helped refugees from Central America find refuge in the United States and later served as an education assistant for Inclusion of elementary students.
 
From working in small, rural parishes, Sister Rita moved to a large parish in Fairport, New York, with more than 1,600 youngsters in the religious education department.  But no matter the size of the parishes, she always spent time with special needs people, becoming chaplain at the Polk Center in Polk, Pennsylvania, which was a state residential facility for people with developmental disabilities.
 
Today she is engaged in a variety of volunteer ministries in Erie County, Pennsylvania.