Answering the call to provide comfort and compassion

A painted image of woman with white hair and wearing glasses, set against a muted background.

Sister Rose Dvorak
Chaplain
St. Joseph Medical Center

Sister Rose Dvorak “felt an arm” embrace her when she reported for her first day as a chaplain at the then St. Joseph Hospital. “I knew this was where I needed to be.” More than three decades later, that sense of purpose is as strong as ever.

“When you love something, it’s not hard to wake in the morning and go to ministry,” she said. “It’s not a job to me. I’m touched by the openness of people who welcome me into their rooms in their time of need.”

The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Sister Rose’s order, first answered the call to care for the sick, the injured and the poor in Reading back in 1873, when St. Joseph Hospital opened. In the century and a half since then, the community’s health care needs have grown, and the hospital has grown with them. Sister Rose says that the Catholic faith has remained the hospital’s true north.

“St. Joseph Medical Center is special to me because one can share God moments with staff, patients and families,” Sister Rose said. “It’s not unusual for staff or families to ask for prayer for themselves or their families throughout the day. Visitors and patients recognize and express the ‘different atmosphere’ they feel here. We never lose sight of the human beings we care for.”

Sister Rose spent 29 years as a teacher and then principal at an elementary school before answering the call to tend to the spiritual needs of patients, families and staff at St. Joseph. When asked when she's going to retire, she'll respond, “I’m in no hurry.”

It’s stories like these that drive our purpose.