Religious sister who served Alaskans for 30 years dies

CatholicAnchor.org
Sister Joan Barina, of the Medical Mission Sisters, died Jan. 26 in Albany, New York, with her long-time friend and partner in ministry, Sister Joyce Ross, of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, by her side.

The two religious sisters served more than 30 years at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Kenai before they departed Alaska in 2009.

Before leaving, then Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz presented the women with the Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal, also known as the Cross of Honor. The medal comes from Rome and is given for distinguished service to the church.

“They have been a great example of how women have planted the seeds of our church, long before this diocese ever existed,” Archbishop Schwietz said at the time. “We are able to thank all of those women through the recognition of these two sisters.”

Over the years, the sisters facilitated a wide range of ministries, from the development of the Clothes Quarters, a thrift-store started to raise funds to purchase food for the Kenai Peninsula’s hungry to youth missions to Bush communities, visits to Wildwood Pretrial Facility and an ecumenical partnership with Soldotna United Methodist Church to provide breakfast for students at Kenai Alternative High School.

Upon leaving Alaska, both Sisters Barina and Ross retired to Albany, N.Y, where Sister Ross’ order is based. There they served as Eucharistic Ministers at St. Peter’s Hospital and helped in the city’s Blessed Sacrament Parish.

Sister Barina was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1929. She became certified as a medical technologist at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee and then worked at St. Luke’s Hospital and at the University of California before joining the Medical Mission Sisters in 1961 when she was 32.

Her first assignment as a religious sister was as chief technologist at Holy Family Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She later moved to Holy Family Hospital in Patna, India, where she served as chief technologist for four years and created a teaching laboratory for a school associated with the general hospital.

She returned to the U.S. in 1973 and worked as a medical technologist with the Public Health Service of California and earned a Master’s Degree in microbiology. In 1976 she moved to Anchorage to work at the Alaska Native Medical Center.

Three years later she met Sister Ross, who became her partner in ministry.
At the request of the late Archbishop Francis Hurley, Sister Barina and Sister Ross went to the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska in 1979 where Sister Barina ultimately settled in Our Lady of the Angels Church. She was involved in catechetical work with both adults and children and facilitated a Scripture study group and an outreach ministry to prisoners in a minimum-security facility.

She said, “What I most enjoy about pastoral ministry is touching the lives of those who have a need to feel the loving presence of Jesus. If I can help to show in any way that presence, through sacrament or word, through action or just being there, I feel my mission here as a Medical Mission Sister is fulfilled.”
Cited as a role model of love, humility and dedicated service, Sister Barina received the St. Francis of Assisi Award from the Archdiocese of Anchorage in 2009.

A wake in honor of Sister Barina will be held at Sisters of Mercy in Albany, New York, on Sunday, Jan 29. A viewing will be held on Tuesday, Jan 31 with the funeral set for Wednesday, Feb 1 at Medical Mission Sisters in Philadelphia, PA. A memorial Mass of Remembrance will be held at Our Lady of the Angels in Kenai on Feb 7 at 6 p.m.