SISTER JOAN MARIE MADDEN, SC age 94 , died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, PA on February 10, 2022. A native of Pittsburgh, Sister Joan Marie entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity on January 1, 1946, from Assumption Parish in Bellevue. Preceded in death by her parents, Joseph E. and Helen (Lothamer) Madden, four brothers, Joseph, Eugene E., James F., Robert J. and three sisters, Sisters Mary Ronald, SC and M. Baptista, SC and Rita. She is survived by nieces and a nephew. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history, English from Seton Hill University and a master’s degree in library science from Duquesne University. Sister Joan Marie taught students of the junior and senior high school level in schools of the Greensburg, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Tucson dioceses. Her longest tenure was at Seton Catholic High School in Chandler, AZ where she ministered, alternately, as teacher, librarian and registrar, until 2009. Sister Joan Marie’s loving service at Seton Catholic for forty-one years will be fondly remembered by many generations. In May 1996, Sister Joan Marie was presented the first Elizabeth Seton Award in recognition of her commitment, dedication and leadership to the mission of Seton Catholic High School in Chandler. This award is given to an individual who evidences St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s virtues of integrity, dedication, dependability, compassion, patience and conviction. She was an environmental pioneer and will be remembered as the “original recycler on the Seton Catholic campus.” She nourished and saw to fruition the dream of a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Chapel at Seton Catholic High School. In 2004, she was inducted into Seton Catholic’s Hall of Fame. The school set up a Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Scholarship Fund in her honor. In June, 2009, she left Arizona and retired to Caritas Christi where she read to sisters. She said, “That’s one of the things I really treasure doing.” Endowed with a beautiful singing voice, Sister Joan Marie ministered as a cantor and belonged to choral groups. She performed with the Arizona State University Choral Union for thirty-two years, and the Phoenix Symphony with three internationally acclaimed opera stars in a presentation of Haydn’s The Creation. Devoted to the Holy Eucharist, she believed, as did Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, “In Holy Communion our hearts are the tabernacles of the Divinity.”
