Sr. Gloria Coleman, SHCJ

Gloria Coleman, SHCJ

September 6, 1926 - December 20, 2024

Educator, Administrator

Rosemont, Pennsylvania – Gloria Coleman, SHCJ, a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 77 years, died on Friday, December 20, 2024. She was 98.

Sister Gloria’s work in ecumenism and interreligious affairs was legendary throughout the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and beyond. She was passionate about building relationships with organizations and people of all faiths. In 2003, Sister Gloria received the Doresh Shalom/Seeker of Peace Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia. 

Born and raised in New York City, Sister Gloria met the Holy Child Sisters as a student at Saint Walburga Academy. She entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus following her high school graduation and made her first and final vows in 1947 and 1952, respectively. She became well known by her religious name Mother Edmund Campion.

Sister Gloria began her teaching ministry in 1947. She served at Holy Child Academy, Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania (1947-58); Saint Ignatius School in Chicago, Illinois (1958-61); Saint James School in Philadelphia, PA (1961-63); Cornelia Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland (1963-64); Saint Elizabeth School in New York City (1964-67) and Saint Edward School in Philadelphia, where she held positions of Superior, Principal and Supervisor of Elementary Schools (1967-73).

Sister Gloria’s ministry in ecumenism and interreligious affairs took root in 1973, when she became a part of an ecumenical movement, especially between Jewish and Catholic communities. She worked at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and later served as the executive Director of the Interfaith Council on the Holocaust. She planned interfaith conferences, forums, youth conferences, Holocaust education programs, and much more. 

Visits to Israel broadened Sister Gloria’s knowledge, especially in the area of the Holocaust. She collaborated with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Catholic Education to produce Abraham, Our Father in Faith, the first Catholic Holocaust curriculum in the country. 

In 1989, Sister Gloria was named principal of Saint Theresa of the Child School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for one year. For the next 10 years, she served as the Director of the Middle School at the Academy of Notre Dame in Villanova, where she continued her interfaith work. 

In 2004, Sister Gloria was a founding board member of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia. As an emeritus chair, Sister Gloria continued to serve on the center’s board for many more years. In 2014, Sister Gloria moved to New Sharon in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, where she continued to participate in interfaith activities and events. 

Sister Gloria earned a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Villanova University in 1953, a Master of Science in Administration and Supervision at Fordham University in 1959, and a Master of Arts in History at Villanova University in 1966.

She joins her parents, John and Anne (Moylan), and brother, John, and sister, Eileen in eternal rest. She is survived by grand nieces and nephews, and dear friends.

Friends and family are invited to a Prayer of Remembrance on Thursday, January 2, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., and a Mass of Christian Burial on Friday, January 3, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., at Holy Child Chapel, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19010. Preceding Mass, friends and family are welcome to attend the visitation at 10:00 a.m. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus – American Province, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19041, or made online at https://www.shcj.org/american/donate/.