Sr. Judith (Judy) Jones of the Holy Family was born on December 3, 1946 to James and Elisabeth Jones in Trenton, NJ. Judy was the older of two daughters. Judy and her sister, Mary or “Pixie,” as she was known, were very close. Sr. Judy was also close to her nieces and their families.
She was baptized at her home parish of St. Joseph’s Parish in Trenton on December 22, 1946. When Judy was in high school, she was introduced to the MCA (lay branch) and became a member of the Junior Cenacle when she was 14 years old. She knew our sisters from the Cenacle in Trenton, especially Sr. Rosa Mystica. She had a desire to enter religious life from the time she was very young.
Judy entered the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity on August 5, 1965. In Novitiate, Sr. Judy received the name Sr. James Elisabeth of the Holy Family. She later returned to her Baptismal name. On March 25, 1968, she made her first profession of vows and on March 25, 1973, her final profession. In asking permission to take her final vows she wrote to Sr. Mary Gerald, “I have given much prayer and thought to taking this step and am sure this is the way I would like to choose to express my love of God.” This was written at a time when she was recuperating for several months at the Motherhouse from a serious car accident in Uniontown. She continues in her letter, “When I realized how much time I was going to be spending in bed, the thought being inactive was difficult. Now however, I understand even more fully that apostolate in not simply work, but our way of life.”
Judy served our community in regional leadership, on various community committees, retreat teams and in many other ways.
She received her BA degree in Theology from Boston College in 1980 and was the first of our sisters to receive a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry. She graduated from Immaculate Conception Seminary (Darlington) in Mahwah, NJ in 1983. Sr. Judy continued to take workshops and other educational opportunities in order to continually prepare and grow in her skills for ministry.
Sr. Judy had a very full missionary life. She had a variety of ministries including Religious Education, Pastoral Ministry, Retreat Ministry, AIDS Ministry. Her first mission was St. Michael’s Parish in Newark, NJ from 1968-1970. She was the Parish Liaison for all city and county service agencies. She began a senior citizens center and took a parish census. She was missioned to Uniontown, PA from 1970 to 1976. Her focus there was an Adult Religious Education Institute for thirty-nine parishes, as well as resource person for High School Religious Education.
In September 1976, Sr. Judy was missioned to St. Margaret Mary Parish in Norwood, MA where she directed a large Religious Education Program.
After her Studies in 1983, Judy was missioned to St. John’s Parish in Center City Philadelphia as a Pastoral Minister. She was in residence at Holy Redeemer Missionary Cenacle at that time. The scope of her ministry was very broad here with room for creativity. She worked with the homeless, hospital pastoral visiting, RCIA, other parish groups, training of lay ministers and related to the large professional community who frequented St. John’s downtown.
In 1987, Judy was missioned to Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat in Holy Trinity, AL as a Team Member. There she was very involved in the Russell County Ministerial Association. In 1989, she was elected President of that Ministerial Association. In an article in the Columbus Ledger about her election it stated; “Although the group did debate whether a woman president would deter membership the association was unanimous in its support of Sister Jones.” The quality that stood out to them at the time was her compassion. Sr. Judy organized the Chaplaincy Program at Phenix Medical Park so that Russell County ministers would be on call around the clock for emergencies and for patients who had no local pastors. All through Sr. Judy’s life of ministry, her interest and desire to work and provide services for those who were ill, shut in or in the hospital was present.
While she was in St. John’s Parish in Philadelphia, she became involved with patients with AIDS. While at Holy Trinity, she would volunteer on her free day in Columbus and Phenix City to serve patients with AIDS. Judy said, “What they need is someone to hold hands and to truly pray with them. Someone who is not going to stand in judgement.” In July 1991 she was missioned to St. Patrick’s Missionary Cenacle in Phenix City and to AIDS Ministry with the Georgia Health Department in Columbus, GA. For the next 23 years she worked in various capacities with AIDS patients, their families and the staff who ministered to them. We all know that this was a ministry very dear to her heart. One of her supervisors wrote to Sr. Marie Gaffney about Judy, “Sister has fulfilled her obligations to our department with incredible accuracy. She has had 100% of her clients approved for whatever disability they have applied for her.” He goes on to say, “We all have our vocations. Mine is the healing art of nursing. Sister Judy has the healing art of soothing the troubled and grieving soul.” In ministry evaluations year after year, Judy expressed that she felt her work with people with AIDS and their families reflected our charism by serving the poorest of the poor, helping both patients and their families to get to know more deeply who Jesus is and the love He has for them.
She retired from the Health Department in 2014 and offered her services as a volunteer at St. Patrick’s Parish in Phenix City, AL.
Because of her failing vision, Sr. Judy was missioned to the Motherhouse in January 2016. In January 2018 at Judy’s request, she moved to Mother Boniface Missionary Cenacle at Wesley. In February 2019, she was missioned to the Ministry of Prayer.
Throughout her life, Sr. Judy endured a great deal of physical pain and discomfort. She had a spinal fusion when she was twelve or thirteen. Her own experience seemed to give her a natural understanding and connection with those who are suffering. Others sensed that in her. In an article written about her ministry in Columbus, someone says, “She always demonstrated a lot of compassion in her commitment to people, that’s one thing people were attracted to.”
As Missionary Servants, we have been blessed by her life among us. She has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she has kept the faith. She surely has heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful, Servant, Missionary Servant.”