Sister Joanna Ohlandt, CSJ, who lived as a Sister of St. Joseph of Brentwood for more than 78 years, passed away on March 20. She and her sister Catherine grew up in Queens and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School. In 1946, Joanna graduated from Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School and entered the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Her lifelong involvement in education began with teaching the younger grades at St. Brendan’s, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the upper grades at St. Teresa of Avila in South Ozone Park. She challenged her students to be instruments of God’s love, recognizing the importance of each person. She served as principal of San Luis and in 1966 was named principal of Academia Santa Maria in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Five years later, she became the vicar for the nearly 100 Sisters of St. Joseph ministering on the Island and also taught math part time at the Catholic University of Puerto Rico. In 1977, Sister Joanna and Sister Teresa de la Cruz traveled to La Esmeralda in Colombia, where for several years they ministered at El Instituto de San Jose Obrero. Sister Joanna also taught math and religion at Academia Maria Reina in Rio Piedras.

Sister Joanna served in leadership positions in the Congregation for the next eight years and then in parish  outreach in St. Francis de Sales Parish in Patchogue. During this time, she lived with three other sisters in St. Patrick’s Parish in Bayshore, where they lived as true sisters of the neighborhood.

In 2020, Sister Joanna moved to St. Joseph Convent in Brentwood, where she continued to advocate for women to have their rightful place in the Church, to work for social justice, and to champion the call of Pope Francis to protect the earth and all of God’s creation. A Mass of Christian Burial was held on March 27 in Sacred Heart Chapel by Father Sean Gann. Sister Joanna was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Brentwood.