Sister Sharon Sullivan was elected Dec. 29 to a six-year term as congregational leader of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. She will take office July 18, 2010 as the 15th canonically elected leader of the Ursuline Sisters since they became an autonomous community in 1912.
            Since August 2007, Sister Sharon has been serving as academic dean and vice president of academic affairs at Brescia University, a job which she began on an interim basis and accepted on a permanent basis in January 2009.
            Brescia has been the only place she has ministered since making her temporary vows in 1984, although she has filled several roles there. She served as the director of housing from 1984-87, but by 1985 she was teaching part-time in her true calling of special education. In 1987 she began teaching full-time in special education, which she did until 1990, when she departed for Purdue University to complete her doctorate in special education.
            She returned to Brescia in 1993 as an associate professor of education and special education. In 1999, she became chairwoman of the Education, Social and Behavioral Studies program at Brescia, and in 2004 became chairwoman of the School of Education. She remained in that post until being named Academic Dean in 2007.
            Sister Sharon is a native of Texas, where she was raised a Protestant. Her family moved to Owensboro, Ky., in 1960 when she was 13, after her father was offered a job as an officer with Texas Gas Transmission Corp. She converted to Catholicism in 1973, and entered the novitiate of the Ursuline Sisters in 1982.
            Sister Sharon has one sister, Shelby Shackelford, of Shawnee, Okla., and two brothers, Rob Sullivan, of Houston, and Rick Sullivan of Trinity, N.C.
            Her journey of faith is chronicled in the 1996 book “A Company of Women: Journeys Through the Feminine Experience of Faith.” Click here to read more about her life in ministry in her Sister in Ministry article.

            Sister Julia Marie Head was elected assistant congregational leader. She’s a native of Daviess County, Ky., daughter of the late Bernard and Frances Head. She lives in Owensboro and will begin her 49th year as an Ursuline Sister in January.
            Sister Julia is the pastoral associate at Immaculate Parish in Owensboro, where she has served since 1999, and also served from 1986-88. She’s served as coordinator or director of religious education at Our Lady of Lourdes (1979-86) and Precious Blood (1988-92) parishes in Owensboro, and in the Office of Adult Education for the Owensboro Diocese (1992-99).
            She began her ministry as a teacher in 1965 at St. James School in Louisville, and also taught at St. Margaret Mary in Louisville (1967-72), Lourdes Central High School in Nebraska City, Neb., (1976-77), and Our Lady of Lourdes School in Owensboro (1978-79). She was principal of St. Alphonsus School in West Louisville (1972-73). From 1973-76 she was director of the apostolate at the Motherhouse.
            She has one brother, Herman Head, of Stanley.
            Click here to read more about Sister Julia's life in ministry in her Sister in Ministry article.

            Sister Kathleen Dueber was elected as a councilor. She is a native of Kansas City, Kan., and was an Ursuline Sister of Paola, Kan., prior to the merger of that community with Mount Saint Joseph in October 2008. She was a councilor in Paola from 2002-2008. She is entering her 47th year as an Ursuline Sister.
            Sister Kathleen moved to Maple Mount in spring 2009, and ministers to the sisters by offering transportation and being on call for pastoral care in the Saint Joseph Villa long-term care facility.
            Sister Kathleen began her ministry in 1965 as a teacher in the Kansas schools of St. Philip Neri in Osawatomie, St. Agnes in Roeland Park (1966, 1969-74, 1978-84), and Holy Trinity in Paola (1967-68). She was assistant principal, then principal of Queen of the Holy Rosary School in Overland Park (1984-89). She was bookkeeper for the Ursuline community from 1974-78. From 1989 until 2009, she ministered at the Paola motherhouse, as director of the retirement facility, as a massage therapist, sacristan, vocation director, and handler of medical claims for the sisters.
            Click here to read more about Sister Julia's life in ministry in her Sister in Ministry article.

            Sister Rita Scott was elected as a councilor. She is a native of Louisville, and will begin her 44th year as an Ursuline Sister in 2010. She lives at Maple Mount, where she has served as plant administrator since 2001, supervising the maintenance department and the farm.
            Sister Rita was a teacher or principal for 20 years, beginning in 1970 at St. Brigid School in Vine Grove. She also taught at St. Paul School in Leitchfield (1971-73), Mother of Good Counsel School in Louisville (1973-74), St. Teresa School in Glennonville, Mo., (1974-82, with the final five years as principal), and St. Joseph School in Bowling Green (1984-85). She was principal at St. Andrew School in Harrodsburg (1982-84), and Blessed Mother School in Owensboro (1985-90). From 1990-2001, she was associate business administrator at the motherhouse.
            She has one brother, Charles E. Scott, of Floyds Knobs, Ind.
            Click here to read more about Sister Rita's life in ministry in her Sister in Ministry article.

            Sister Nancy Murphy was elected as a councilor. She is a native of Curdsville, Ky., and will begin her 49th year as an Ursuline Sister. She lives in Belleville, Ill., where she has been local coordinator since 2005 for a small community of sisters and maintains the former Belleville motherhouse property. She is also an office clerk with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in Belleville.
            She began her ministry as a teacher at St. Margaret Mary School in Louisville (1965-68), and also taught at St. Edward in Jeffersontown (1968-72), St. Catherine in New Haven (1972-73), Calvary Public School (1973-78), St. Ignatius in Louisville (1980-81), and St. Angela Merici in Florissant, Mo., (1981-84). She was principal of St. Thomas More School in Paducah (1978-80).
            From 1984-2005, she served in various ministries at Brescia College/University and at the Motherhouse. At Brescia she ministered in financial aid and institutional research, while at the Motherhouse she’s served as local coordinator and assistant local coordinator, director of the juniorate and director of novices.
            Her mother, Mary Helen Murphy, lives in Owensboro. She has five sisters – Peggy McCarthy, Sally Ann Buford, and Mary Rose Riney, all of Owensboro; Monica Sue Blandford of Maceo; and Betty Rogers of Shepherdsville – and two brothers, Thomas Hugh Murphy of Owensboro, and William Eugene Murphy of Paducah.
            Click here to read more about Sister Nancy's life in ministry in her Sister in Ministry article.

To learn about former congregational leaders throughout the history
of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, click here.