Sister St. Monica Diffley, C.S.J., a Sister of St. Joseph for 76 years, died on February 21, at Maria Regina Residence in Brentwood, L.I. 

Sister Monica was born in Brooklyn and attended St. Brendan’s elementary and high school. She entered the congregation in 1944 from St. Athanasius parish, Bensonhurst. She earned a BA degree in English from Manhattan College in 1954 and an MA degree in Education from the University of Chicago in 1962.

She taught in eleven different parish schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens before going to St. Bernard’s in Levittown, where she taught seventh and eighth grade Language Arts for 21 years and ministered there for 43 years.

Her ministries included the following: Holy Child, Richmond Hill (1945-1947); St. Francis Xavier, Park Slope (1947-1948), St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor (1948-1952); Ascension, Elmhurst (1952-1954); Our Lady of Victory, Bedford Stuyvesant (1954-1955); St. John of God, Central Islip (1955-1957); St. Martha, Uniondale (1957-1962); St. Benedict Joseph Labre (1962-1963); St. Agnes, Carroll Gardens (1963-1965); Immaculate Conception, Jamaica (1965-1969); Our Lady of Victory, Floral Park (1969-1972); St. Bernard, Levittown (1972-1993); Administrator of the Brentwood Education Center (2007-2014).

Her funeral Mass was offered on Feb. 25 at Maria Regina Chapel, followed by her burial in Calvary Cemetery, Brentwood.