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Sister Joan Barina Sister Joan is one of 650 Medical Mission Sisters in 19 nations trying to be present to others in the spirit of Jesus the Healer. Born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, Sister Joan earned her degree at Marquette University, and became certified as a Medical Technologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee. She worked at St. Luke's Hospital, and at the University of California, before joining Medical Mission Sisters at age 32. Sister Joan's first mission assignment was as Chief Technologist at Holy Family Hospital, the first integrated hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She admired the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and attended his funeral in 1968. Her next mission was in Patna, India, where she served as our Holy Family Hospital's Chief Technologist for 4 years, and also opened a medical laboratory school. "I was struck by the great poverty, but also by the resiliency of the people and their great spirit," she says. Returning to the U.S. in 1973, Sister Joan worked as a Medical Technologist with the Public Health Service of California, earned an advanced degree in microbiology, and went to Alaska to work at the Alaska Native Medical Center. In 1979, she met Mercy Sister Joyce Ross, who became her partner in mission. At the request of Archbishop Francis Hurley, the two Sisters went to the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, and began working in religious education in 4 peninsula communities. Eventually they settled in Our Lady of the Angels parish in Kenai, where Sister Joan is pastoral associate. Sister Joan helps with sacramental preparation, RCIA programs, and catechetical work with both adults and children. She also facilitates a Scripture study group, and an outreach ministry to prisoners in a minimum-security facility. Since the parish is without a resident priest, Sister Joan, Sister Joyce, and others in the parish share as lay presiders. "What I most enjoy about pastoral ministry is touching the lives of those who have a need to feel the loving presence of Jesus," shares Sister Joan. "If I can help to show in any way that presence, through sacrament or word, through action or just being there, I feel my mission here as a Medical Mission Sister is fulfilled."
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