With great sadness, the Schoenstatt Sisters have shared news of the loss of Sr M Patrocla Stuecker who died on Monday, January 14 at 89 years of age.
In the last few years, she had struggled with ill health and was a patient at Mount Druitt hospital, Sydney when she passed away.
Sr M Patrocla lived a long, fruitful life and was loyal to her vocation as a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary for 64 years, the Sisters said.
She was a Kindergarten teacher, “through-and-through”, the Sisters told The Record, having learnt her profession before entering the Schoenstatt community at 26.
Sister arrived as a missionary in Fremantle in 1957, sent by Schoenstatt-founder Father Joseph Kentenich.
She lived and worked in the Perth Archdiocese for 15 years in the parishes of Riverton and Armadale, where she was known and loved as a Kindergarten teacher, sacristan and a genuinely joyful and smiling sister who welcomed pilgrims at the Schoenstatt Shrine in Armadale.
In Mount Druitt, Sister worked as the director of the Holy Family Parish Pre-School from 1968-1988.
In 2009, ill health saw her return to the province house at Mulgoa, Sydney and from there to Our Lady of Consolation Nursing Home, Rooty Hill. After her death, many of the elderly residents expressed how much they had appreciated her kind and loving approach and the fact that she never joined in gossip or spoke negatively of others. Many said that they would miss her greatly.
“We are privileged that she was with us. She radiated God to us and she also radiated your community to us,” one of the nurses at Mount Druitt hospital told the Sisters.
Sr M Patrocla’s Requiem Mass was held at Joseph Kentenich House Chapel at Mulgoa on Thursday, January 17.
The Sisters said they appreciated people’s prayers for the repose of the soul of their dear co-sister and wanted to thank the many people who had expressed their condolences on hearing the news.