Sister Mary Teresita Langowski, CSSF, died Dec. 26, 2017, in the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo. She was 89.
The former Irene Rita Langowski was born May 27, 1928, in Erie, Pa., to Waclaw and Marianne (Krzesniak) Langowski. She joined the Buffalo province of the Felician Sisters in 1948 and professed perpetual vows in 1956. She received a bachelor's degree in education from Mount St. Joseph Teachers' College, now Medaille College in Buffalo.
Early in her ministry, Sister Teresita served as a child care aide at St. Rita's Home for Children in Getzville, also serving in child care at Guardian Angel Day Care in Buffalo and St. Stanislaus Kostka Day Care in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1958, she began teaching in diocesan elementary schools. Her teaching ministry lasted a total of 28 years.
In addition to teaching at schools in Western New York, Sister Teresita also served in the dioceses of Syracuse and Erie. She also served as principal of St. James School in Depew and assistant principal of the Genesee-Wyoming Catholic Consolidated School in Attica.
Religious education was also an important part of Sister Teresita's ministry. She briefly taught religion at Villa Maria Academy in Buffalo and later became a religious education coordinator in Boonville and Mayville. She served as coordinator of religious education and as a pastoral associate at Holy Trinity Parish in Erie.
In 2000, she began a ministry of promoting the canonization cause of Blessed Mary Angela, who founded the Felician Sisters, which she continued for 16 years. In 2004, she began serving as an aide to the Felician Sisters' provincial treasurer, where she remained until she became ill in November 2017.
Sister Teresita is survived by a sister, Rita Johnson, as well as nieces and a nephew.
A funeral Mass was held in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Convent Chapel in Buffalo, with burial in St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Cheektowaga.