Sister Corinne Moeller

Early in my life I was attracted to the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan who had taught me in grade school. I entered that community as a preparatory student and loved attending Vespers. My quiet personality, however, did not seem to be a good fit for their missionary style of life and I returned home. We had moved when I was in elementary school to the Pittsburgh area and I was in the freshman class at St. Benedict Academy that transferred in Oct. 1950 from the monastery building to the brand new Academy building on the same property. On that eventful occasion all of the students lined up between the buildings, passing the desks from one to the other, transferring furniture from one building to the other!

At the end of my junior year, I again felt the strong call to religious life, this time to the monastic community of the Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh. In 1954 I became Sister Corinne and I have lived Benedictine life since then and celebrated my Golden Jubilee of profession in 2005. Praying the Divine Office with the Sisters has been a strong point of stability in my life to this day.

My ministry has been quite varied and included teaching and library science in elementary schools. “Listening with the ear of our hearts”, I set out in July, 1979 with 2 other sisters, to establish a new mission in Neon, KY to serve the Appalachian poor. During the 5 1/2 years spent there, I worked with the Red Cross and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) through 2 floods in that area. I volunteered as a class room aide and taught individual religious education classes. Working with the other mainline churches in the area the Letcher County Food Pantry was established and I served as purchaser of supplies. I tutored dyslexic adults and children and taught some parents to be classroom aides. I also laid the early foundation for a women’s craft group. I always look back at these missionary years as the most growth provoking years of my ministry to others. What stood out for me during this time was the opportunity to live in a poor environment and to experience the inequities of society which kept people poor. It was a chance to work for social justice.

After returning to Pittsburgh, I began a new venture when the Allegheny County Department of Aging helped the Sisters sponsor the Benedictine Senior Center. I was appointed as the Information, Referral and Outreach Office Coordinator. Serving as the editor of the “Benedictine Centerpiece” newsletter for 13 years added new challenges in learning computer skills and layout.

Around 1998 the community began a collaboration with The Electronic Scriptorium from Leesburg, Virginia and I served as the manager of remote data entry. Many interesting jobs came our way including archival of 50 years of photographs for The New York Times as well as projects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cartier Jewelers. During this time I also helped coordinate the North Hills Community Food Bank.

Since 2008, I have been working again as an Information, Referral, and Outreach coordinator for the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging.