FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 25, 2000
CONTACT: Sister Ileana Fernandez, CSJ (225) 344-0515

Two Members of Sisters of St. Joseph Take Final Vows

NEW ORLEANS (LA) On Sunday, August 27th, Sister Julie Marie Kraemer and Sister Leyla Cerda-Sanchez of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille will make their final vows. The ceremony will take place at the Sisters of St. Joseph Chapel, 1200 Mirabeau Avenue in New Orleans. Officiating the ceremony will be Brother Louis Couvillon SC of New Orleans; Presider; and Sister Lucy Silvio CSJ, President.

Sister Julie Marie was born in Vacherie, LA, and is the daughter of Wilbert Kraemer and the late Elmente Granier Kraemer. She is the third of ten children. She graduated from Thibodaux High School and began a shrimping career with her father that lasted twenty years. After graduating from the University of New Orleans in 1997 with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, she began teaching at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Baton Rouge. She began her journey with the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1989 and entered the Novitiate in 1993, making her First Vows in 1995.

Born in Nicaragua, Sister Leyla has resided in the United States since 1979. She is the daughter of Enrique Cerda and Leila Sanchez Cerda of Chalmette, LA. She is the second of five children. She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of New Orleans in 1984 and a Masters of Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1994.

Sister Leyla has ministered with Immigration Legal Services of Associated Catholic Charities, and has served as Director of a Neighborhood Center and Financial Associate for the Office of the Social Apostolate. She wishes to pursue a career in Campus Ministry. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph as a pre-novice in January of 1996, and became a novice in September of 1996, professing her First Vows in 1997.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille have worked in the New Orleans area since 1855, and are active in many ministries including education, parish work, prison ministry, and healthcare. For more information about Sister Julie Marie Kraemer, Sister Leyla Cerda-Sanchez, or the Sisters St. Joseph of Medaille, contact Sister Ileana Fernandez at (225)344-0515 or visit the web site at www.sistersofstjoseph.org.

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