Sister Cheryl Wint, OSF to oversee operations
Sister Cheryl Wint, OSF, has been named interim executive director of the Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum in Syracuse, effective Feb. 27.
Sister Cheryl assumes the position following the announcement that Kristin Barrett-Anderson is concluding her role with the ministry.
Sister Cheryl is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities (SOSF), the religious order that Saint Marianne entered in 1852. The museum is a sponsored ministry of the Sisters and is overseen by Partners in Franciscan Ministries (PFM) on the Sisters’ behalf.
“Sister Cheryl is a wonderful asset to assist the museum as PFM and the museum’s board determine the facility’s next steps,” said Robert Myers, Ph.D., PFM chief executive officer. “Sister has ministered in Hawaii and has a strong devotion to St. Marianne. The operations experience she gained working in the corporate world before joining the Sisters will be of considerable benefit.”
The Sisters opened the museum in 2014, just two years after Mother Marianne Cope was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. It is located in space provided by St. Joseph’s Health Hospital, the hospital St. Marianne helped establish as head of her community in 1869.
Kristin Barrett-Anderson has served as the executive director since the museum’s opening. The congregation’s Leadership had high praise for her contributions.
“Kristin has done an impressive job in designing the museum and establishing it as a stirring tribute to St. Marianne and the many contributions this remarkable woman made to healthcare and patient advocacy in central New York and Hawaii,” said SOSF’s Leadership Team.
Leadership added: “The exhibits and displays have become a source of inspiration, education, peace, and reflection under Kristin’s direction. She expanded beyond the museum’s walls to bring St. Marianne’s Franciscan values to caregivers through a series of workshops and seminars. We can indeed be proud that the museum and its stories of our dear Mother Marianne and the Sisters of St. Francis, who ministered, and continue to minister on Kalaupapa, represent in our legacy.”
St. Marianne was the first Franciscan woman from North America to be canonized and is the 11th American saint. She spent her early years in central New York before responding to a call to care for people with Hansen’s disease in Hawaii, then known as the Sandwich Islands. St. Marianne devoted 35 years to caring for those patients exiled on Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii.
The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities was formed in 2004 with the union and later merger of three New York-based Franciscan congregations and one from Pennsylvania. For more than 160 years, the Sisters have ministered to people most in need in the areas of healthcare, education, senior care services, immigration support, and care for creation.
