Father Steven Bell, CSP, baptizes a man during the Easter Vigil at St. Austin Church in Austin, Texas. Paulist-run parishes and centers welcomed almost 200 catechumens and candidates to the church in 2011.

Joan Lewis

Joan Lewis was living in Rome, faithfully searching the Herald Tribune newspaper for religious services in English, but none were ever listed.

“I thought, ‘They just don’t have this,’ until someone I knew asked me if I knew about Santa Susanna,” said Joan, now the Vatican bureau chief for EWTN since 2005 who previously worked at Vatican Information Service from 1990-2005.

So she tried out Santa Susanna, a historic church that serves the American community in Rome. The parish came under the pastoral care of the Paulist Fathers in 1922.

“It became my parish, and that was 30 years ago,” said the suburban Chicago native. “The Paulists I first met were very welcoming and energetic. They seemed to know how to be everything to everyone, and that is difficult given that we have no parish boundaries and the parishioners are spread around Rome. I thought it might just be this particiular group of men, but as I got to know more Pauists over the years, I realized that they were all that way. It is just who the Paulists are.’

A French teacher turned Catholic journalist, the parish put Joan to work right away, editing the 1982 version of “As Romans Do,” a guidebook for Americans exploring or moving to Rome. She has also served in parish ministry, and currently serves as parish council president.

Father Mark-David Janus, CSP, greets a parishioner at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Grand Rapids, Mich. Paulist Reconciliation Ministries has hosted to national conferences to guide parishes in bringing those who are alienated back to the church. Eleven Paulist-run pairshes and centers have established reconciliation ministries.

Joan has come to know the Paulists well over the years – the community’s history, charism and its individuals.

“Each Paulist puts his own personality stamp on the parish,” Joan said. “That is powerful, and attracts them to us [the parishioners] in different ways. They make Santa Susanna a wonderful parish, and I know how hard it is to make a wonderful parish.”

Because of her rich and rewarding experiences with the Paulists, Joan has included the community in her will.

“We all need to be modern day missionaries, especially with the secularism and relativism in the world,” she explained. “We need priests who are sure in their ministry, active in their outreach and joyful in their faith. The Paulists do all of this, and do it with excellence.”

Father Thomas Ryan, C.S.P. (center) talks with two Buddhist monks at an inter-religious event. The Paulist mission includes hhigh engagement in interfaith and ecumenical dialogue. Some 459 Paulist parishioners are engaged in this ministry.

With her bequest, Joan is making sure others have the opportunity to make their faith grow or even maintain their roots in the church.

“If there is a future special project or other needs in the Paulist community, it is my desire to help with that through my will,” she said. “There is a great commitment in keeping the parish doors open. My will bequest is important to the future of the Paulists and a permanent way in which the ministry I know will continue. My family in Rome is Santa Susanna.”

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