“Be diligent in serving the poor. Love the poor, honor them, my children, as you would honor Christ Himself.”
St. Louise de Marillac
Sister of Charity Caroljean Willie Celebrates Golden Jubilee
Sister Caroljean (Cj) Willie recognized her call to global advocacy early when, after earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Edgecliff College, she joined the Peace Corps and served on the island of St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Joseph and Margaret Willie, she credits her parents’ faith—especially attending novenas with her father—as a source of inspiration for her religious vocation. After returning from St. Lucia, Sister Cj worked at St. Joseph Orphanage, where her desire to “continue a life of service” deepened. Encouraged by the Sisters of Charity she met there, she entered the Community in 1975.
Since then, Sister has taught in New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, and St. Lucia—where she especially cherished returning, this time not as a Peace Corps volunteer but as a Sister of Charity. There, she said, her faith deepened as she “experienced faith on a totally different level” and encountered “the diversity of humanity—and the Church.”
Holding a master’s degree in reading from Xavier University and a Ph.D. in multicultural education from Union University, Sister has served as multicultural education coordinator for the Diocese of Orlando and as an international cultural diversity and education consultant for Harcourt Religion Publishers. Her ministries have taken her across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, and throughout the United States, always with a focus on poverty, peace, and cultural diversity.
Drawing on her cross-cultural experience, Sister was selected to serve as the nongovernmental organization (NGO) representative at the United Nations in New York for the Sisters of Charity Federation from 2007 to 2015. In this role, she participated in and presented at numerous national and international UN conferences. Reflecting on this work, which she describes as her most challenging ministry, she said: “This ministry opened my eyes to global realities on a daily basis and provided the opportunity to interact with people throughout the world.”
Sister has authored two books—“Researching the Tropical Rainforest” (2003) and “Praying All Ways” (2004)—and contributed to numerous education and faith-based journals and magazines, including eight articles for Global Sisters Report.
Today, Sister Cj serves as program director at EarthConnection and leads teacher training workshops in Africa and Central America. She also continues her involvement in microfinance projects across several African countries and works as a cultural diversity consultant and public speaker.
Reflecting on her years as a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, she shared: “The greatest memories are in the knowledge that wherever one Sister is, we all are. I often lived and worked far from other SCs but never felt alone.”
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