Up Close and Personal

After spending many years in education and parish ministry, in 1998, Sr. Helen Budzik became a member of the startup team that began the Franciscan Spiritual Ministries in Aston, Pennsylvania. She has served in various roles with the spiritual center ever since and is currently the hospitality coordinator for the Franciscan Spiritual Center – Aston.

Sr. Helen grew up with her two sisters in the Graceland Park section of Baltimore County, Maryland. She attended Sacred Heart of Mary Elementary School and The Catholic High School of Baltimore. At Catholic High, Sr. Helen first met the Sisters of St. Francis. She said, “I was attracted to the Franciscan sisters because of their genuine interest in the education of young women. They provided so many opportunities to explore and develop our gifts and talents. While I met the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in elementary school, I was not drawn to them as a congregation even though I had excellent teachers and several friends who entered their congregation.”

Entering the Sisters of St. Francis the summer after her high school graduation, Sr. Helen spent the next few years in formation at the motherhouse and as a student at Neumann University—then Our Lady of Angels College—where she majored in English.   READ MORE