Sr. Patrice Kerin, 86, a health care leader who brought the Sylvania Franciscan congregation's hospitals under one nonprofit sponsored ministry three decades ago, died at Rosary Care Center in Sylvania, Ohio, on April 7 after a brief illness.
Sr. Kerin brought her congregation's then-five acute-care hospitals under one central management arm, Toledo-based Franciscan Services Corp. in 1984. The corporation was established to provide professional oversight for the sisters' growing health care ministry. It evolved into Sylvania Franciscan Health, now including six hospitals; independent, assisted and long-term care facilities; a shelter for those who have experienced domestic violence and other ministries. She served as chair of the board of trustees for 20 years.
Sr. Kerin, who made her first profession in 1947, served her congregation in several leadership roles, as an area coordinator, assistant to the general superior, and, from 1976 to 1984, as general superior. From 1977 to 1981, she served as president of the Franciscan Federation, an organization promoting Franciscan evangelical life. She also worked in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the Sangre de Cristo Renewal Center beginning in 1989 and returned to Ohio in 2002 to serve at the Trinity House of Prayer, a contemplative ministry of the sisters.
She is remembered by members of her congregation for both a reverence for all people and for enjoying life, "with all her Irish heritage could bring to the party." Her congregation said in a statement, "Her legacy is one of inclusiveness, gentleness, love and compassion for all things."
Sr. Kerin spent 17 years as an elementary school teacher in Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. She worked as the principal of Regina Coeli in Toledo, Ohio from 1963 to 1969 and at Northeast Regional School in Minneapolis, Minn., from 1969 to 1970.
A visitation and welcoming home prayer service were held April 12 in the chapel at the Sylvania motherhouse, with her funeral April 13. She was interred in the Porta Coeli Cemetery on the sisters' campus.