Sister Ida   

Ida Peterfy  was born on October 7, 1922 of Hungarian Catholic  parents in Kosice, Slovakia.  From her early youth God prepared her to be a leader, to work for others, and to lay down the foundation of a new religious community.  On October 7, 1940, her eighteenth birthday, Sister Ida pronounced her perpetual vows in Kassa, Hungary (now Kosice, Slovakia).

God called Sister Ida to bring forth a new religious community at the time, when the universal Church was attacked in her Chief Pastor and in her religious children.  As the future of formal religious education became uncertain, the times called for religious, who would dedicate their lives to proclaim the Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ in an inspiring, interesting and dynamic way.  Sister Ida, with her earliest companions lived the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience in community life, without, however, wearing the traditional religious garb. This was necessary that they may be able to function in the restrictive situation, and was also helpful in approaching those who were alienated from the Church by Nazism and communism.

Sister Ida’s ardent faith in God,  and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, helped her to develop an innovative catechetical method, which became the community’s cherished religious education charism: the Five Step Illustrated Method.  The small community was instrumental in religious education of children and youths as well as formation of catechists and distributing catechetical material throughout Hungary amidst the dangers of religious persecution.  Following the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty in 1949, Sister Ida and her companions were advised by Church leaders to leave the country, continue their apostolate in the free world and some day return to Hungary.

A new beginning  awaited Sister Ida and the Sisters when they arrived penniless in Toronto, Canada, in 1950.  To obtain immigrant status, Sister Ida and her companions had to work as domestics for a year, earning room and board and $35 a month.  Working in tobacco harvests as unskilled laborers for two summers, they earned enough for a down payment for a small house and printing machines.  Through their new St. Joseph’s Press they had a modest livelihood while learning English.

In 1956, James Francis Cardinal McIntyre personally welcomed and warmly supported the young community in Los Angeles.  When Sister Ida asked him on possibly adopting a more traditional veil and habit, Cardinal McIntyre assured her:  “Don’t change.  Mind my words:  the Church will need you as you are.”  The  last four decades proved the Cardinal’s vision right, the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart harmonized the best of religious life tradition with renewal after Vatican II.  In 1991, after a private audience and Mass in the chapel of Pope John Paul II. in Rome, the Holy Father said to Sister Ida and the Sisters:  “You are a blessing for the Pope. You are truly American and truly Catholic!”

The Society was formally erected as a religious institution of diocesan right in the archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1985.

Today, Sacred Heart Sisters  of a variety of  international backgrounds, joyfully serve the universal Church through their community apostolate of religious education in three continents: in the archdioceses of Los Angeles and St. Louis, in the dioceses of Orange and San Bernardino, and in the archdiocese of Taipei, Taiwan, where the evangelization apostolate is complemented with significant medical work.  After the collapse of communism, Sister Ida opened a mission in the archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest in Hungary, where the Sisters are engaged in  catechist formation nationwide, as well as giving occasional enrichment programs in Slovakia, Rumania and the Ukraine.

The religious education charism,  given by God to the community through Sister Ida, is treasured by the Sisters and the spirit, in which they express it, is well described by the title of their newsletter, the  “JOYFUL APOSTOLATE”, which Sister Ida began in 1950.  Beginning in the seventies, Sister Ida launched annual Girls’ Camps, Leadership Retreats for young adults, as well as sacramental retreats for children and teens in their Heart of Jesus Retreat Center.  Seeing the spiritual quest of families, she developed a unique Family Retreat Camp program offered in the community’s Sacred Heart Retreat Camp in Southern California, also in Hungary and Taiwan, along with Children’s Camps during the summer.

Sister Ida led her Sisters on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, shrines in Italy and to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.  A great camper and hiker herself, she took her Sisters to camping trips to the Grand Canyon and to the Sequoias.  In 1976 they made a 33-day bi-centennial cross-country pilgrimage in a bus and van, with the highlight of attending the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia.

By producing a children’s television program for KABC at the request of the Los Angeles Archdiocese Communication Department, Sister Ida’s new teaching method, including the  use of puppets, became nationally known by educators and families.  “My Friend, Pookie” did so well in the Nielsen rating  -on Sunday mornings – that KABC requested two additional series.  The 27 shows were broadcast for several years.

With undaunted receptivity to the Holy Spirit,  Sister Ida helped the community, - as she said – “to move on into the future” with young leadership; and so it was that in 1988 Sister Jane Stafford  was elected, as the first American Superior General. Sister Ida continued teaching the novices, giving spiritual retreats and monthly seminars  to the Sisters, was actively involved in the community’s spiritual leadership and as a religious education speaker, traveled across the United States and Canada.

The production of the “Sacred Heart Kids’ Club” video program followed at the request of parents, priests and educators, who saw how effective the Five Step Illustrated Method was. With a team of her Sisters, Sister Ida produced 30 half-hour video tapes with teachers’ guides, a unique religious education program for children in harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  The program spread to five continents in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian, reaching many millions of children.  Further language dubbings are in progress.

Sister Ida passed on to eternal life on February 8, 2000 in the Society’s Motherhouse in Northridge, California, lovingly surrounded by all her Sisters.  The church was packed with many friends, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and families at the Mass of the Resurrection offered for Sister Ida.  Cardinal Roger Mahony, the main celebrant, remarked that it was “a very unique moment in the life of the Archdiocese of  Los Angeles, a very wonderful grace, because it was the first time, that we had a foundress of a religious community die in our midst.”

‘The Joyful Apostolate must go on,” – Archbishop Justin Rigali said in his homily at the funeral – “Sister Ida in her legacy is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for the love of God manifested in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, reflected in the gentle life and zealous devotion of our Sister Ida.”

With her God-given talents, Sister Ida’s outstanding, global and lasting contributions in the  field of religious education, and in religious life, are great treasures for generations to come.  But what most touched those who spoke with Sister Ida was the eloquent simplicity of her joyful spirituality, that she often expressed in brief words: “God has a Heart for you!”

  Home Page                contact us at:  webmaster@sacredheartsisters.com