Word has reached the Chancellor’s Office that Sister Mary Loyola Mathia, S.C., 103, passed away in the Lord on Monday, February 17, 2025, while in nursing care in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Sister Loyola,” as she was commonly known, was a member of the Sisters of Charity for over 80 years, spending nearly 50 years in the field of education. She was the Religious Education Coordinator at St. Benedict Parish, Crystal River, from 1979 to 1985. Along with Father James Hoge, O.S.B., Sister Loyola assisted in the founding of Central Catholic School of Citrus County (now St. John Paul II School), in Lecanto, where she served as the school’s first principal, from 1985 to 1990, when she became the school’s Director of Development for two years.

In addition, she served as Religious Education Coordinator and RCIA Coordinator at St. Scholastica Parish, Lecanto, from 1991 to 2007, after which she assisted with RCIA and annulments at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish, Spring Hill from 2007 until her retirement in 2014. She then moved to her community’s Motherhouse in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she spent her final years.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, February 27, 2025, 10:00 a.m., at the Immaculate Conception Chapel, on the grounds of the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reverend Richard Jankowski, who worked with Sister Loyola at both St. Scholastica and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parishes, will preside.

Locally, a Memorial Mass will be offered on Thursday, March 6, 2025, 6:00 p.m., at St. Benedict Catholic Church, 455 S. Suncoast Boulevard, Crystal River.

Expressions of sympathy and memorial gifts may be sent to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. Details are included at this link.  An article from Sister Loyola’s 103^rd birthday on September 14, 2024 may be found here.

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May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.