A Ministry of Love: S. Juliette Sabo Retires

“If the world takes something from us on the one hand, God will give us something on the other.”

St. Louise de Marillac

By Sebastian Isaacs, Communications intern

S. Juliette Sabo celebrated her retirement alongside the teachers she supported while serving as a part-time classroom aide.

In June, S. Juliette Sabo officially retired from Romero Academy at Resurrection, formerly Resurrection School. After 24 years of full-time ministry at Resurrection, and six additional years serving part-time after the school transitioned to Romero Academy, S. Juliette is considering how to continue her lifelong mission of caring for and loving those who are most vulnerable in this new chapter of her life.

Throughout her years at Resurrection and Romero Academy, S. Juliette taught a predominantly Hispanic population, including many English language learners who started in her second grade classroom speaking little to no English. She hopes to continue serving Cincinnati’s immigrant population by volunteering with St. Vincent de Paul, an organization that she admires for its support of schools serving families in need.

There, she plans to assist with food distribution. Having only served as an educator, S. Juliette is no stranger to the effects of hunger on a child’s ability to learn. When asked about her hope for the future of Catholic education in Cincinnati, she said, “I just hope people can afford to send their children to Catholic schools. As teachers, we just keep praying like crazy, because you never know if they’re going to come back to school the next year, or even the next day.”

She often noticed that many of her students would come in the morning and eat their breakfast in the school cafeteria where it was free. While Romero Academy is fortunate enough to provide those meals, she knows many schools are not able to offer the same support.

As she begins volunteering with St. Vincent de Paul, she says, “I’m thinking about the poor that don’t have food. In the past when I was helping out, we were working mostly with housing for the poor, not so much school or food. But I realized that it all intertwines, of course.”

When Resurrection School transitioned to Romero Academy in 2020, S. Juliette initially planned to retire. Instead, she found herself asking the same question she is considering today: What’s next?

Her decision to stay until this summer was shaped in part by the second-grade teacher she assisted, who encouraged her to stay, but ultimately it came down to her love for the children. “I just knew I had to do something,” she shared. “I love the children. They’re good, and they’re so welcoming. I knew that they could use the help.”

To S. Juliette, her mission as a Sister of Charity is to do “what we have to do.” She reflected, “You know, we see things and when we realize that we need to take care of it, or help, we do.”

Her students reaffirmed that mission at her retirement celebration. One banner they created read, “Sister Juliette, thank you for being the hands and feet of Christ to us.”

In the letters that she received from each of her second graders, most of them wrote, “I love you,” to which S. Juliette laughed and said, “We share a lot of love.”

Over the past three decades at Resurrection School and Romero Academy, S. Juliette’s ministry extended far beyond the classroom. She cared for her students not only as an educator but also as a Sister of Charity, meeting them with humility, simplicity, and charity. Although retirement marks the end of her years in Catholic education, those values will continue to guide her as she begins a new chapter of ministry.

As she looks to the future, S. Juliette is sure of one thing. “God will provide,” she shared. “Whatever we do, we do with God’s love.”

Romero Academy recently established an award in S. Juliette Sabo’s name, recognizing her dedication to the school and her mission as a Sister of Charity.

S. Juliette Sabo’s middle school students shared a banner with her that read, “We love you,” a phrase often heard in her classroom.

S. Juliette Sabo’s second-grade students painted their handprints on a banner presented at her retirement celebration.

middle school students

S. Juliette Sabo is pictured with some of the middle school students she helped teach during her 30 years of ministry at Resurrection School, later known as Romero Academy at Resurrection.

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