Contributions to the tribute of SISTER BARBARA NESBIHAL

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The family of SISTER BARBARA NESBIHAL uploaded a photo

Monday, February 28, 2022

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Joel Mestre lit a candle

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Joel Mestre lit a candle in memory of SISTER BARBARA NESBIHAL

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Jackie posted a condolence

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Sister Barbara Nesbihal taught me how to be a teacher. I learned more from this wonderful woman than any textbook or college. Words can't express the influence she had on myself and others. I'm still teaching...and when in doubt.....I think of what Sister would do... Xo. She was loved. Jackie Dunphy Howell

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Stephen & Barbara St. Hilaire posted a condolence

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Our condolences go out to the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station, the Sisters at St. Bridget's as well as Adele and her family. Our fond memories are of Sister Barbara's service as principal of St. Bridget's School and her work with income-vulnerable families who were facing displacement from gentrification in Jersey City's Montgomery Gateway area in the early 1980s. Hundreds of income-vulnerable families, largely of racial minorities, were being displaced for a new housing project near the church and school with no guarantee that they would be able to return once the project was completed. These people had no focal point to organize and maintain their unity during the construction process that then saw the federal housing funds threatened with termination because certain political forces did not want to see the project built. Sister Barbara and the other sisters provided the convent as a sanctuary, creating a climate of hospitality for the movement of these vulnerable people from a variety of ethnic groups and cultures. Without that organizational "oasis," these people would have had no rootedness in their former neighborhood. From the convent these displacees were "tracked" as they moved from place to place—as far away as Guatemala--during the long construction process. Federal litigation was filed by the displacees and a settlement was arrived at. Negotiations to implement to implement the court order with the various city, state and federal officials and the tenants took place in the convent living room on the details of the tenant's "right to return" to their former neighborhood in affordable housing. (These negotiations included another Sister of Charity, Sr. Margaret Welch, Esq. as well as Sr. Kristen Funari, CSJP.) The negotiations bogged down for weeks until one day Sister Barbara, or some other sister, let their big gentle German Shepard, "Montgomery," come into the room. The dog would never bite a soul; but the public officials did not know that; and they became anxious when the dog entered, at which point they quickly concluded the negotiations resulting in a very favorable plan so that the vast percentage of former displacees got the ability to return to the newly constructed apartments. No one ever disclosed who was behind the release of the dog into the room, but we do know that Sister Barbara was mysteriously absent from the room before he dog entered! A favorite lesson that we learned from Sister Barbara was her abiding sense of the need for "celebration." There was always a drawer full of unfilled balloons ready to be blown-up. Once she was asked: "Why do you celebrate every birthday of people in the community and every little stage of progress in this housing struggle when the ultimate victory is nowhere in sight?" She said: "We must not deny ourselves 'celebration' whenever we can do it because life is filled with so much suffering and we get energy from the joy of celebration and fellowship in order to endure that suffering and to move on to hope." It worked…a true saint of the church! A Brazilian theologian, Leonardo Boff, in "Way of the Cross--Way of Justice," described Sister Barbara's way of life: "Participation in the kingdom of God and salvation are only for those who…take upon themselves the cries of the poor and seek justice; for those who inscribe in their own life's project the yearning of the poor for an equitable, fraternal societal life and who then help to turn this yearning into a reality." Barbara, we miss you. You have now arrived at the ultimate point of "celebration" in the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus. Stephen & Barbara St. Hilaire

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margie Valle posted a condolence

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Sister Barbara, We will forever have you in our hearts. You were the most beautiful person, with the grandest heart. My kids, Natalie, Justin, Imani and especially Richard were blessed to have had you in their life. We will forever have the wonderful memories from St. Bridgets and St. Mary's. We love you Sister Barbara RIP. We will miss you. The Valle Family

In loving memory of

SISTER

1937 - 2017

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