Sr. Ann-Joyce Peters, SHCJ

Ann-Joyce Peters, SHCJ

July 20, 1937 – May 2, 2025

Educator, Administrator, Pastoral Care Worker, Missionary

Rosemont, Pennsylvania – Ann-Joyce Peters, SHCJ, a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 67 years, died peacefully on Friday, May 2, 2025. She was 87.

Sister Ann-Joyce ministered with a caring spirit, a beautiful smile and wonderful sense of humor. She deeply loved her family, who frequently visited her in retirement. Her pioneering spirit helped to establish the Holy Child Sisters’ educational, spiritual, and health ministry in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic among Haitian immigrants with few educational and healthcare opportunities. Sister Ann-Joyce found God wherever she served, including in some of the most poverty-stricken regions. She will be deeply missed.

Sister Ann-Joyce first met the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus as a student at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey. After high school, she attended Rosemont College for a year and then entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and made her first and final vows in 1959 and 1964, respectively. She became well known by her religious name Mother Mary Domina.

She began her teaching ministry at Saint Leonard’s Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1959-61), before serving for 12 years as the head of the junior school at Oak Knoll. Sister Ann-Joyce then ministered at Our Lady of Lourdes School (1973-78) and Saint Elizabeth School (1978-80) in New York City. While living in New York, she studied Spanish in preparation for what would become her next 40 years of service in South America and the Caribbean.

From 1980-94, Sister Ann-Joyce served in Santiago, Chile, where the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus had established Centro Cornelia Connelly, a ministry focused on spiritual formation and leadership training for youth and adults, outreach to the city’s homeless community, and missionary work in southern Chile. Sister Ann-Joyce immersed herself in the community and her work in pastoral care. The Associates in Chile continued to be connected with “Anita”, as they called her, and were saddened by her declining health this year.

In 1995, Sister Ann-Joyce and lay volunteers moved to the Dominican Republic, where they worked at Fe y Alegria School, a Jesuit-sponsored educational program in one of the poorest barrios of Santo Domingo. Three years later, they established a Holy Child mission site in the batey, a Haitian settlement, where Sister Ann-Joyce, Mary Alice Minogue, SHCJ, Kathleen King, SHCJ, and Holy Child volunteers served migrants who lacked basic necessities, such as food, housing, indoor plumbing, and electricity. Sister Ann-Joyce reflected on her time in the Dominican Republic, calling it a “privilege” and a “gift” and a place where she found God in the people and her surroundings. She continued to invite women and men to become Associates.

After 19 years in the Dominican Republic, Sister Ann-Joyce returned to Chile, where she resumed her pastoral ministry

In 2020, Sister Ann-Joyce moved to Holy Child Center in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, where she shared her gentle spirit and contagious smile with all.

Sister Ann-Joyce earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Rosemont College in 1966 and a Master of Arts in curriculum and teaching from Columbia University in 1972.

She joins her parents, Frederick and Margaret (nee Griffin) and sister Louise Sheyker, in eternal rest. She is survived by: brother-in-law Mike Sheyker, nephew Michael (Mary) Sheyker, nieces Carolynn Sheyker and Diane Patterson (Glenn); grandnieces/nephews: Anissa Patterson, Kyle Patterson, Jack Sheyker, Kenny Sheyker, and Lily Anne Sheyker; Cousins Nancy Peters, Jake Peters, and Debbie Nicholson.

Friends and family are invited to a Prayer of Remembrance on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., and a Mass of Christian Burial on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., at Holy Child Chapel, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19010. Preceding Mass, friends and family are welcome to attend the visitation at 10:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus – American Province, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19041, or made online at https://www.shcj.org/american/donate.