Sister Mary Jane (Querin) Herlik, OP, of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa died April 4.
Professed in 1950, she taught in the following schools: Visitation, Chicago; St. Patrick, Ottawa, Ill; St. Patrick, Madison, Wis.;
Trinity, River Forest, Ill.; Bishop Lynch, Dallas, where she also served as co-principal; and Notre Dame High School
in Chattanooga from 1978-1982.
Sister Mary Jane also served as pastoral minister at St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga from 1982-1986 and at St.
Joseph Parish in Marietta, Ga. During these two ministry opportunities, she began working with people affected by HIV/AIDS and their loved ones, offering spiritual care and support.
Noticing in the early 1980s that some medical personnel and clergy were afraid to enter hospital rooms of those dying of AIDS, she said, “I felt I was being called to minister to those dying with AIDS.”
She was a founding member of the Atlanta Archdiocesan AIDS Task Force and served as coordinator at Sacred Heart Southern Missions in Walls, Miss., and in St. Petersburg, Fla., with Catholic Charities and as a volunteer in the area.
Sister Mary Jane advised people to “squeeze some joy out of every day, live with a grateful heart, and always trust in a loving God.”
