Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Sklba with the new Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi Leadership Team, (from left) Sr. Sylvia Anne Sheldon, Sr. Joanne Schatzlein and Sr. Charlotte Roost. (Submitted photo)
The congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi have elected a new leadership team.
The new members were installed in June and include Sr. Joanne Schatzlein, Director; Sr. Charlotte Roost, Vicar/Associate Director; and Sr. Sylvia Anne Sheldon, Associate Director. They will serve a four-year term.
The installation took place during a Mass at St. Francis Convent in St. Francis that was celebrated by Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Sklba of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
The three sisters have all served previous terms as members of the leadership team.
Sr. Joanne Schatzlein most recently served as Director of the Office of Corporate Ministries. Born in Minneapolis, she professed vows as a sister of the congregation in 1968. She was an associate director on the leadership team from 1995-99. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Marquette University and a master’s degree in Franciscan studies from St. Bonaventure University. She served the sisters as a registered nurse for many years, both at the health center at the motherhouse in St. Francis and at St. Coletta of Wisconsin in Jefferson. She was director of health care for the congregation from 1985-87. Sr. Joanne is also known for her work leading pilgrimages to Franciscan sites around the world.
Sr. Charlotte Roost most recently served the congregation as Director of Housing and Cars, and as liaison between the leadership team and the “Upholding the Vision” building project, which concluded with the 2019 opening of the Sisters’ new motherhouse and retired living facility at St. Francis Convent. She was born in Morris, Illinois, and grew up in Cambridge. Sr. Charlotte professed vows in 1968 and was an associate director of the congregation from 1995 to 2003. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1972. She served as a pharmacist at the congregation’s St. Ann Health Center from 1972-81, and 1982-84. In 1986, Sr. Charlotte earned a doctoral degree in pharmacy from the University of Utah. She practiced as a pharmacist in Birmingham, Alabama, and taught at Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, for four years. Sr. Charlotte also worked as a pharmacist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Hines, Illinois.
Sr. Sylvia Anne Sheldon most recently served as the director of operations for six Catholic parishes on Milwaukee’s south side. She was born in Waukegan, Illinois, and professed vows in 1994. She was associate director of the congregation from 2015-19. Sr. Sylvia Anne is a former member of Sacre Coeur Catholic Church in Creve Coeur, Illinois. She earned an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University. Sr. Sylvia Anne served as director of administrative services at St. Mary’s Parish in Elm Grove from 1994 to 2003, as director of information services at Cardinal Stritch University from 2004-06, and was the school finance director at Blessed Savior School in Milwaukee from 2007-15.
In 1849, the congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi was the first foundation of vowed Franciscan women to be established in the United States. Their motherhouse is located on the shores of Lake Michigan in St. Francis. The sisters sponsor 10 corporate ministries located in Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. Their ministries serve those with intellectual, emotional and physical disabilities, seniors in need of affordable housing, those living in poverty and the disenfranchised and neglected of society.
