Sr. Helen Schwarz, S.H.C.J.

Helen Schwarz, SHCJ
August 13, 1927 – May 10, 2020
Educator and Administrator
Rosemont, Pennsylvania

Helen Schwarz, SHCJ, who was a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 72 years, died on May 10, 2020. She was 92.

Despite her diminishment in recent years, Sister Helen never withdrew from her interest in world and Society events and those around her. She will be sorely missed by those who
knew and loved her, especially her former students and those she worked with in California. While born and raised on the East Coast, she considered herself a “California girl” after
living and serving there for nearly 45 years.

The only child of Charles and Kathryn (Kennedy) Schwarz, Sister Helen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she attended Transfiguration Catholic School and West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School. While at West Catholic, she came to know and love her teachers, the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus.   After high school, Sister Helen entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in 1946 and made her final vows in 1954. She became well known by her religious name Mother Mary Carl.

Sister Helen began her teaching ministry on the East Coast at Saint Edward School in Philadelphia (1949-1954); Annunciation School in Washington, DC (1954-1955); Oak
Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey (1955-1957); and Saint Leonard Academy in Philadelphia (1957-1966).  In 1966, Sister Helen moved to the West Coast to continue her teaching ministry at Holy Child Academy in Portland, Oregon (1966-1968); Connelly School of the Holy Child in Anaheim, California (1968-1974); and Mayfield Senior School of the Holy Child Jesus in Pasadena, California (1974-1976).  Beginning in 1977, Sister Helen served as the Supervisor of Secondary Schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a position she held for 18 years.

In 1996, Sister Helen was invited to help with the development program at the newly-launched Casa Cornelia Law Center in San Diego, a ministry founded by the Sisters of
the Holy Child Jesus.

In 2011, her health started to decline so she returned to the East Coast, where she lived in community in Rye, New York, and then moved to Holy Child Center in Rosemont,
Pennsylvania.

Sister Helen earned a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Villanova University in 1953; a Master of Arts in Education from Fordham University in 1959; and
a Master of Arts in History from The Catholic University of America in 1964.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus – American Province, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, PA 19010, or
donate online at www.shcj.org/american/donate.