Sisters to celebrate jubilee

April 1, 2004

STORM LAKE - Two sisters serving in the Diocese of Sioux City will celebrate milestone anniversaries with a 10 a.m. Mass on April 17 at St. Mary's Church in Storm Lake. Sister Jane Rogers, BVM, and Sister Josita Zieser, PBVM, will each celebrate their 50th jubilee.

Sister Jane Rogers is the daughter of the late Charles and Margaret (O'Shea) Rogers of rural Cascade, Iowa. She attended Mundelein College in Chicago, Ill. and received a B.A. Sister Jane also earned a M.A. in administration and supervision from Clarke Collge in Dubuque and a master's in theology from Aquinas Institute in Dubuque. She entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sept. 8, 1954.

Sister Jane taught in Butte, Mont.; Chicago, Ill.; served as principal in Missoula, Mont.; and pastoral minister in Iowa Falls. She journeyed with women interested in the BVM community and was a pastoral minister at Corpus Christi in Fort Dodge. She presently serves in bereavement ministry with Hospice of Fort Dodge.

Sister Jane's motto when she celebrated her 25th jubilee was "Life is love lived," and this continues to sum up what religious life means to her today.

Sister Josita Zieser, PBVM, was born in Walker, Iowa, and grew up on farms in Monti, Iowa. She attended country schools until transferring to St. Patrick's in Ryan, Iowa, where she graduated from high school in 1953. She then entered the Presentation Sisters. She attended Clarke College in Dubuque and received her B.A. in art. She also earned a M.A. in art from Notre Dame University.

She has taught for 46 years in elementary, middle and high schools such as St. Joe and Newman High School in Mason City, Iowa; in Key West, Iowa; Resurrection schools in Dubuque and St. Odilia in Shoreview (St. Paul), Minn. In the Diocese of Sioux City, she served in the Algona Seton System and Storm Lake middle and high school. She will retire from teaching at the end of the current school year.

In this diocese, Sister Josita served as president of the diocesan association of women religious for five years and on the diocesan pastoral council for five years.

As of March 5, she became part-time secretary and administrative assistant at St. Mary's Parish in Storm Lake.

"I thank God for calling me to religious life after a good upbringing by my parents in the practice of the faith," said Sister Josita. "Religious life has enabled me to share my life with many people in the past 50 years. I thank God for these people who have enriched my life of service."