FLUSHING — Petite in stature but towering in faith, Agnes Rus has spent nearly a lifetime in service as an Apostolic Oblate — a mission she embraced at just 17 years old.
On Aug,. 24, she and her fellow Oblates bid farewell to the Diocese of Brooklyn during a special Mass at St. Kevin Church in Flushing. The secular Institute of the Apostolic Oblates announced on May 31 that it would close the Our Lady of Miracles Bethany, the community of Apostolic Oblates that resides at St. Kevin’s.
The move comes after the institute’s 60 years of ministry in Brooklyn and Queens, fostering holiness by providing spiritual guidance, assistance to immigrant communities, food pantries, and children’s ministry work.
Under the Pro Sanctity Movement, a worldwide organization of laywomen founded in 1947 by Bishop Guglielmo Giaquinta, the Apostolic Oblates arrived in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 1965 at St. Barbara’s Church in Bushwick. The group relocated to Our Lady of Miracles Church in Canarsie in the late ’70s before putting down roots at St. Kevin’s in 2011.
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Rus said she will continue her service as an Apostolic Oblate in Fullerton, California, where the institute has a presence, along with Elkhorn, Nebraska. She said leaving the Diocese of Brooklyn is “bittersweet.”
“When I look around and see people still remembering after 60 years, I feel such gratitude,” she said. “You realize the seeds that were sown have truly taken root.”
Originally from Slovenia and living in Italy for years as a child, Rus was asked to serve the Italian-speaking community in Brooklyn in 1971, helping to break language barriers in that community and keep them close to the Church.
To serve the growing Hispanic community in the Diocese of Brooklyn at the time, Rus and other Apostolic Oblates dedicated themselves to learning Spanish to conduct outreach to those parishioners.
“Here I found my comfort zone, surrounded by people I loved. But it is also a new beginning, and I trust God is sending me where I’m needed next,” Rus said, referring to her upcoming move to California.
Renee Jarecki and Mariakutty Joseph are the two other Oblates leaving the community to serve in California and Nebraska, respectively.
Although she’s only been assigned to the Diocese of Brooklyn since October 2024, Jarecki said that serving here has been a highlight of her 36 years as an Oblate.
“It’s hard. You get to know people, they touch your life, and you get to touch theirs in some way,” she said. “I’m hoping the community in Brooklyn and Queens will continue the message of our founder — that each of us is called to holiness, no matter what stage of life.”
Hailing from India, Joseph first arrived in Brooklyn in 1982 to serve at Our Lady of Miracles before shorter stints in Nebraska and California, and returned to the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2004.
Over the years, Joseph’s ministry touched nearly every corner of parish life — from bringing Communion to the homebound, to running children’s Bible camps, and volunteering in the food pantry at St. Kevin’s.
Joseph said that one aspect of her service in the Diocese of Brooklyn that she’ll miss is the weekly adoration on Mondays at the Apostolic Oblates’ house, which was open to the community.
“It is very sad,” she said. “I hope people remember us as friends, and that they carry with them the call to holiness. That is what we tried to live and to share.”
Father Marc Swartvagher, pastor of St. Kevin’s, said that while the Oblates’ departure leaves the parish with a “very big hole to fill,” the work they have done will continue, including what he hopes will be a continuation of the Bible study in the fall.
“I think their ministry has planted many seeds here in the parish and the Diocese, so now we have to keep watering them, caring for them, and allow them to grow,” he said.
Andy Colón, a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 18180 at St. Kevin’s, said that he and the Knights look forward to continuing the service of the food pantry they worked on with the Oblates.
Colón recalled that only a handful of people came when the pantry first opened. Now, he said, the need has grown to more than 140 families who rely on the program. He credits Rus and the Oblates with shaping how the pantry runs and how the team pulls together.
“[Rus] has been a good inspiration — a pretty good teacher, too,” he said. “I’ll be keeping her phone number handy, just in case.”
The Apostolic Oblates’ impact on the community was evident at their farewell Mass and hospitality that followed at St. Kevin’s — where the room was filled with tears, group hugs, and conversations reminiscing and wishing well.
Donna Hingst, a lifelong parishioner of St. Kevin’s, said that Rus and the other Oblates have enriched her faith and supported her during difficult times in life.
“When the Oblates first came, they opened the convent to everyone and welcomed them. They’ve become my family, and I will miss them very much,” she said. “Everything the Oblates do is impactful, touching, and moving, but I recently lost my cat, and they helped me in my sorrow.”
The Apostolic Oblates’ decision to leave the Diocese of Brooklyn stems from not having enough members to sustain all their missions, said Joan Patten, national secretary of the Apostolic Oblates and national director of the Pro Sanctity Movement.
“We need to pray for vocations,” she said.
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Chappetto led in the celebration of the Oblates’ farewell Mass. He first met them while serving as pastor at Our Lady of Miracles and later worked with them again at St. Kevin’s, where he also served as pastor.
He said they’ve left a profound mark on the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“They’ve instilled in our hearts the desire to grow in holiness and to seek Jesus as the source of holiness,” he said. “When we think of them, we’ll think of that call to holiness.”
