Sister M. Karen Stern, SHF

+ Enlarge

Sister M. Karen Stern, SHF

May 29, 1930 ~ February 18, 2018  

Sister Karen Stern, SHF, died peacefully at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Fremont, Calif. on February 18, 2018, at the age of 87. She was born Jacqueline Frances Stern on May 29, 1930, in Spokane, Wash., and entered the Sisters of the Holy Family from St. Francis of Assisi Parish there on January 6, 1956, at the age of 25.

Sr. Karen served in catechetical ministry and day homes in the Dioceses of Oakland, San Francisco and Nevada until she was called by her Sisters to serve in congregational leadership. She served as councilor from 1979 to 1983, and was elected president of the congregation in 1983, a position she held until 1991.

After a sabbatical, Sister Karen went to Park City, Utah, in 1992, where she served as pastoral associate until 2002. She returned to California that year, and in 2004 moved to the Motherhouse in Fremont, where she was active in Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, and also worked tirelessly as a volunteer at Washington Hospital in Fremont.

The Mass of Resurrection was celebrated on February 26, 2018 at St. Joseph Parish in Fremont, Calif.

Interment was at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, Calif.