Born and raised in Chicago, Sister Janet (named at birth Loretta Therese) joined Medical Mission Sisters shortly after graduating high school. After earning her nursing diploma from Misericordia Hospital in Philadelphia in 1957, she worked for several years in Philadelphia as a nursing supervisor and in MMS Public Relations. She moved to Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1961 and served as nursing supervisor for six years.

At the young age of 22, Sister Janet's experiences in Venezuela impacted her deeply and led her to form an insight in healthcare that guided the rest of her life. "What I realized was the way to change the health status of people wasn't through modern, medical care in a high-tech hospital, but through efforts in public health," Sister Janet explained.

She returned to the U.S., set aside her childhood dream of becoming a medical doctor and earned her B.S. in nursing from Case-Western Reserve University, her M.S. in Regional and Community Affairs from the University of Missouri and her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health.

Sister Janet had 11 academic appointments, including teaching positions at: Columbia University, the University of Virginia, Indiana University, the University of Texas, Case Western Reserve University and Texas A & M. In partnership with Susan Thompson, she served as Director of Alliance for Justice in Washington, DC for 13 years.

While teaching at Texas A & M International University in Laredo, Texas, Sister Janet supervised community health nursing students in the Spanish-speaking barrios and colonias of Laredo. She taught a course on Cultural Competence and on International and Border Health in which 'Justice for All' was a major concept. During this time, she shared that although she was working with the UN and was coordinating the MMS Alliance for Justice, she felt her involvement in the school was her most important work of justice. She added that listening to the students' changed world views and their commitment to justice and an end to world poverty was humbling and inspiring.

An international public health specialist, Sister Janet traveled the world as a consultant, served as a representative of the Medical Mission Sisters at the UN and was active in a wide variety of health and justice organizations. In 2004 she received the Ruth B. Freeman Distinguished Career Award from the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association, the highest award this organization bestows. She also served in a variety of leadership positions for MMS, including a three-year term as our Unit North America Superior starting in January 1983.

Sister Janet wrote in a paper in 1987: "Nurses have always prided themselves on responding to the physical and mental pain and suffering of those in need. Unless the world situation changes drastically, I believe nurses of tomorrow will be challenged to define need in a much broader sense. We have become quite adept at speaking "holistically" of an individual patient's nursing needs. I suggest we become equally skilled in identifying individuals' and communities' needs for change in the societal structures that are oppressing them. And once those societal structures and systems have become identified, will it not be our responsibility - as nurses, citizens, human beings - to work toward reforming or dismantling unjust structures?"

A prolific writer, Sister Janet wrote dozens of articles and papers, as well as two books: Drawn by God and She Stepped out of her Class. "My ministry is peace-building," she said. "Trying to use every talent, energy and opportunity God gives me to build a peace based on justice." For Sister Janet that meant in community with others, speaking to groups, writing articles, lobbying legislators, demonstrating, committing civil disobedience and studying and strategizing around issues related to peace and justice.

People were drawn to Sister Janet because she was not angry or embittered by her work. She once said, "I have seen incredible violence, sub-human degradation and misery. Yet I have also been humbled by the love, example, and commitment of courageous people throughout the world."

In 2018, distraught by public policies, Sister Janet inspired the formation of the Hot Topics discussion group in her residential setting. In April of 2021 she moved to hospice at the Philadelphia Protestant Home. She shared with several other Sisters that she was ready for her final journey to God; she passed peacefully Tuesday afternoon.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the wake and service will be private.

Remembrances in her name may be made to the Medical Mission Sisters, 8400 Pine Road Philadelphia, PA 19111.

Service

Services are Private