Sr. Pat Roy, CSJ

Patricia Roy was born in Detroit, Michigan on September 14, 1937 the daughter of Alfred Roy and Eleanor (Kunky) Roy. Patricia was a member of St. Rita’s in Detroit, Michigan at the time of her entrance into the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Nazareth on September 1, 1955. She received the name Sister Nora at her reception on July 2, 1956, but later returned to her baptismal name. Sister Patricia (Pat) pronounced first vows on July 2, 1958 and final vows on July 2, 1961.

Sister Pat graduated from St. Rita’s and then went on to earn her Artium Baccalaureatus degree from Nazareth College in 1966 with a major in Music. She furthered her education by pursuing her Master’s Degree from Western Michigan University with a degree in Music Education.

Sister Pat began her ministry at St. Mary’s in Niles, Michigan and taught at several other schools in the Diocese including St. Margaret, Barbour Hall, and St. John Bosco, Mattawan. She also taught at St. Therese in Lansing and St. Christopher in Marysville. She continued in pastoral Ministry at St. Joseph, Lake Orion, St. Charles in Coldwater and Our Lady of Loretto in Redford, Michigan. In order to be closer to her aging parents, she then spent 4 years at St. John parish in Oxford, Mississippi doing Pastoral Work, Religious Education and liturgy. Then in 1994 and for the next 8 years, Sister Pat was the Director of Pastoral Ministry at Fontbonne/ Nazareth Center and the Pastoral Minister of Health Care at St. John/Bon Secours in Detroit. In 2002 Sr Pat’s pastoral ministry brought her back to Nazareth.

To have known Sr. Pat is to have known a loving, gentle person, a good listener, someone very easy to talk with about life and the profound presence of God in everyday life. This way of relating was very observable during her years in Congregational Services as the Director of Spiritual Services and liaison to sisters in the nursing home until her retirement in January, 2009. In her Golden Jubilee reflection Sr. Pat wrote, “God has been good to me and it has been easy to share that joy with others. I look ahead with a smile and with confidence that God will continue to guide and bless me.” And now she is experiencing God’s smile for all eternity.

May She Rest in Peace!