A lifetime of service: Erie's Sister Mary Miller, soup kitchen director, dies at 81

Sister Mary Miller, a Benedictine nun who served since 1981 as director of Emmaus Soup Kitchen in Erie, didn't live to see the fulfillment of one of her dreams.

Miller, who served until her death Sunday at the age of 81, said in 2008 interview with the Erie Times-News that she had hoped the soup kitchen would be a short-term solution to a temporary problem.

"When it first started, I was hoping to be able to close the soup kitchen within two years," she said.

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Instead, the need would grow along with the mission. According to Emmaus, only one person was fed the first night the soup kitchen opened in 1974. Today, the soup kitchen typically serves at least 750 meals a week and distributes 300 bags of supplemental food.

Early life

Miller was born in Meadville in 1942 and was baptized in her family's home parish of St. Agatha. She graduated from St. Agatha High School in 1960 and entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in Erie, where she made her final vows in 1969.

While a Sister of St. Joseph, Miller taught in elementary schools in the diocese, including Villa Maria, St. Ann and St. Andrew in Erie and Notre Dame in Hermitage. She also served as principal at St. Andrew.

Sister Mary served as religious coordinator at St. John the Baptist Parish in Erie until 1979 when she began working in social services, first at Community House for Women, and then, from 1981 until her death, as director of Emmaus Soup Kitchen, an outreach of the Benedictine Sisters.

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Under Miller's leadership, Emmaus Ministries grew from a soup kitchen to include a food pantry; an after-school program, Sister Gus’ Kids Cafe; an urban farm, Emmaus Grove; and a social work program with a special focus onwomen’s advocacy.

Along with others in the Benedictine order, Miller had mourned the death earlier this year of Benedictine Sister Mary Lou Kownacki with whom Miller had shared a house. Kownacki was one of the founders of Emmaus.

Miller's death was being felt Monday by her friend Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun who has written extensively on women's rights and religious life.

"The city will be very aware that Mary is gone. There is no doubt about that," Chittister said. "Nobody saw this coming. She was, we presumed, healthy. She was busy all the time, continuing in everything that she had so clearly helped to found."

Erie Mayor Joe Schember noted Miller's passing in a statement issued Monday.

All of us who knew Sister Mary Miller were shaken by her untimely passing,” he said. "I saw firsthand – on many occasions – how Mary put her faith in action."

In addition to her publicly visible ministries — including the Kids Cafe, which serves more than 50 children, and Emmaus Grove, which distributes more than 1,500 pounds of fresh produce each year — much of Miller's work was behind the scenes, Chittister said.

"When people came to town, especially a little family coming through the city in the middle of the night, people called Sister Mary and she went out and paid the hotelier to put these people up for a one night, three nights, a week. These are things that people never understood were going on."

Chittister has other mental snapshots of her friend's dedication.

"I have a picture in my mind of Mary sitting at her chair with a huge stack of cards in front of her. She wrote every note to every single donor," Chittister said.

Sister Mary's constant activity might have distracted her from her medical problems.

"She kept on going," Chittister said. "I think at the same time we knew she was having some kind of painful attacks, but she just kept going from one thing to another. I talked to her, and she said she had been to a doctor, she had medication and I should not worry."

The work continues

Both Chittister and the board of Emmaus Ministries stressed that the work of the organization will go on in her absence.

Erie Benedictine Sister Valerie Luckey had been appointed by the board at its December meeting to serve as the next director of Emmaus Ministries. After a period of working alongside Miller, she had been scheduled to move into the role June 1.

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“For decades, the name ‘Sister Mary’ has been synonymous in the Erie community with a deepconcern for the poor and an endless outpouring of love rooted in a commitment to the Gospel,” Luckey said in a statement.

"I am honored to continue the good work begun by Sister Mary alongside dedicatedstaff, volunteers, and donors who embrace the opportunity to encounter Christ in the breaking of thebread, as the disciples did in the Gospel story of Emmaus.”

Chittister said she's confident Emmaus is in good hands. But like others in Erie, she's grieving the loss of a friend.

"Both Mary and Sister Mary Lou Kownacki were clear that the mission and that same spirituality continued. It isn't that we are losing that," Chittister said. "We are just losing the presence of two of the most beautiful people you will know. We will go on because we go on. We will miss them as genuine sisters, people we love."

Services will be held Tuesday at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery with visitation from 2 to 5 p.m. followed by a service of memories at 7 p.m. Visitation will be held Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. followed by a liturgical celebration at 5:30 p.m.

Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie's Emmaus Soup Kitchen director Mary Miller dies at age 81