SISTER MARY LOUISE LISOWSKI, age 74, died on December 7, 2020 at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. Born in Pittsburgh, Sister Mary Lou entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity on August 27, 1967, from Saint Philip Parish in Crafton. Preceded in death by her parents, Michael J. and Mary V. (Krally) Lisowski, she is survived by three sisters: Mrs. Loretta Jean (William) Scutta, Judy Bundy, Mrs. Joani (Richard) Wagner, nieces and nephews. Sister Mary Lou earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in education from Seton Hill University, a master’s degree in religious studies from Boston College, and a master’s degree in social work from West Virginia University. Sister Mary Lou taught students of the elementary and secondary levels in schools of the dioceses of Greensburg and Pittsburgh. From 1983 until 1988, she served as a pastoral minister in Preston County, WV, and in 1988 and 1989, she was associate director of Focus on Renewal in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Sister Mary Lou served at Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 1989 to 1993. When she returned to Wheeling in 1993, she began a 17-year tenure with Catholic Charities of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese. In 1996, she was joined by four local church women in crisis to form the Gabriel Project of West Virginia, Inc. to provide quality services to pregnant women in need. She served as board president for the Gabriel Project from 1996 to 2000, when she was named executive director of the organization. In 2007, Sister Mary Lou took on an additional role as an adjunct faculty member in social work at Seton Hill University, and was appointed Director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, a position she held until 2010. Sister Mary Lou was tenacious in her work for the poor. In reflection on living Vincentian spirituality in the Setonian tradition as a Sister of Charity, Sister Mary Lou said, “Becoming the ‘Company of Charity’ meant that it was important in my ministry to make the Charity of Christ visible and real.”
