When Sister Luke Boiarski asked the volunteers in the room to stand, people rose throughout the gathering. Each had answered an invitation to serve alongside the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Each carried a story from the experience.
That moment was at the heart of Celebrate the Journey 2026, held Sept. 24 at the Nazareth Motherhouse Campus. Sisters, Associates, volunteers, donors and friends gathered to recognize Sister Luke as she retired from leading the SCN Lay Mission Volunteer Program, a ministry she had guided since 2008.
Under her leadership, volunteers traveled to communities recovering from disasters and joined Sisters in ministries across the world. Sister Luke made 22 trips to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, led volunteers who helped build 51 homes in Belize and spent 10 summers serving alongside communities on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Teams also traveled to Botswana, India and Nepal.
Sister Luke Boiarski is presented with the key to the city by Bardstown Mayor Dick Heaton.
Volunteer Ronnie Mattingly, who has served with the Sisters for 18 years, said Sister Luke taught him to look beyond the work at hand. “The work matters, but the people matter most,” he said. Volunteers often arrived thinking about what they could accomplish, he said, and returned home thinking about the people they had met.
Sister Luke agreed. “When I look back over these years, what stays with me most are the people,” she told the audience. She spoke of families who welcomed volunteers into their homes, communities that trusted them and volunteers willing to try unfamiliar work. She thanked the colleagues and Sisters who supported the program, including Sister Ann Magruder, who helped her prepare for trips and welcomed her home.
“This mission, this ministry, never belonged to me,” Sister Luke said. “It belongs to all of us. So keep saying yes.”
Congregational President Sister Jackulin Jesu presented Sister Luke with a plaque recognizing her years of service. Bardstown Mayor Dick Heaton presented a city proclamation and a key to the city. Former Office of Mission Advancement Director Patsie O’Toole then invited guests to plant packets of seeds, a symbol of the service and growth Sister Luke had encouraged in others.
The day also looked beyond Sister Luke’s ministry. In an opening ceremony led by Sister Tonya Severin, a lantern, footprints, a globe and a cross represented the Congregation’s history, its global reach and the faith at the center of its mission. During lunch, Sister Jackulin remembered Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, OSF, 10 years after their deaths in Mississippi, where they had provided health care to people with limited access to it.
A video brought guests to Nepal, where Sister Oliva Kujur described the Sisters’ response to families affected by recent flash floods. Their first hope, she said, was that those families would know they were not alone.
After a closing blessing, guests could tour St. Vincent de Paul Church, take part in a Nazareth Retreat Center experience or continue the conversation with Sister Luke and the volunteer program. The options reflected the purpose of Celebrate the Journey: to bring people closer to the Sisters’ mission and invite them to take part in it.
Sister Luke left them with a direct invitation:
“When someone needs help, show up. When someone is overlooked, make room.”
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