Sister M. Susanne Cherny

January 28, 1927 - July 8, 2011

Sister Susanne Cherny died on July 8, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pa. She was 84 and in her 62nd year of religious life.

Sister Susanne (Helen Rosalie) was born in Sagamore, Pa., the 12th child of 13 children of Stephen and Mary (Zavotsky) Cherny.  Her parents owned a grocery store, and she and her siblings took turns helping after school and in the summers. Family gatherings were happy occasions full of fun and music. ‘Rosal,’ as she was called at home, and her siblings played musical instruments, accompanying their accordion-playing father in performing Hungarian dance music.

Sister Susanne met our sisters through Father Joseph Malinak, who was pastor of St. Clement Church in Tarentum, Pa., where her sister Matilda was the organist. She entered at Mount Assisi Convent in 1947, three years after she graduated from Cawanshannock Township High School in Sagamore.  In August 1948, she was received into the novitiate and given the name of Sister Susanne. The following year, she professed her first vows. 

Sister began her teaching ministry at St. Mark School in McKees Rocks, Pa.; St. Gabriel School in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and at St. Patrick School in Canonsburg, Pa. She also gave piano lessons and was the parish organist while taking classes on Saturdays and during the summer months to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from Mount Mercy College (Carlow University) and a master’s degree in special education and counseling from Duquesne University.

From 1967 to 1984, Sister Susanne’s ministry took a new direction when she began taking courses in psychology while working at St. Joseph Home for Children in Dayton, Ohio. Always eager to learn, Sister Susanne received certificates in group psychotherapy from the University of Dayton, in transactional analysis from the Institute of Human Understanding in Medina, Ohio; and certification in clinical pastoral education from Kettering Hospital in Kettering, Ohio. She also earned a doctorate in philosophy in counseling psychology from Columbia Pacific University in San Rafael, Calif.

Sister Susanne later taught at the University of Dayton and ministered as a chaplain and psychotherapist at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She then spent six years serving at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale Ariz. In 1984, Sister Susanne became chaplain and supervisor of pastoral care at Mount Carmel Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. She also held classes for married deacons and supervised theology students from the nearby Josephinium Seminary.

In the 1990s, St. Francis Academy in San Antonio, Texas, was in need of a school counselor, and Sister Susanne offered to move to the southwest. A few years later St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh offered her a position as a chaplain. She accepted and made the move back to Pittsburgh, where she ministered until the hospital closed. From 2003 until retirement, Sister Susanne ministered to the elderly while employed by LIFE Pittsburgh. She visited five LIFE Pittsburgh Day Health Centers and also many infirmed sisters in the Pittsburgh area.

In 2009, Sister Susanne was diagnosed with a severe heart condition and was not able to continue working. She lived in the motherhouse and remained involved in community service until her death.

Known to many as Susie, Sister was unique to those who knew her well. Her Hungarian tastes, smiling eyes, dancing feet and happy ways reflected her motto: “Live, love and laugh.” She brought joy and happiness to our community and to the elderly who awaited her next visit.  A caring and generous person, she had a deep spiritual life and a great devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist.

Sister Susanne is buried in St. Francis Cemetery at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Pa.