Rose “Rose Patricia” Casey
“Time – O Lord, how swiftly it seems to fly.
Thank you for reminding me that there is time enough for what You have planned for my life.”—Sister Rose Casey
Sister Rose Casey, SNDdeN started her life in Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in South Philadelphia, one of four children (one of whom the family adopted), where aunts and uncles, cousins, priests and Sisters often gathered at their family table.
Sister Rose and her sister Margaret were identical twins with a special bond that only twins have! Sister Rose was blessed to be able to accompany Margaret through her dying 13 years ago. Frances, the eldest Casey sister, attended the Academy of Notre Dame at Rittenhouse Square, and Sister Rose fondly remembers attending May processions there and the beautiful Grotto at the “Square”. While a student at St. Maria Goretti High School, Sister Rose again connected with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, where the simplicity and humility of the Sisters drew her to explore her vocational call. She entered at Ilchester, Maryland, in August 1961, following graduation from high school.
Over the many years, two ministries that stood out to Sister Rose were teaching at St. Joachim and Ann School in Queens, New York (her first mission), and later at St. Mary Interparochial School in Philadelphia, near her parents’ home. At the interparochial school, students came from various parishes and social backgrounds—from poor to wealthy “Society Hill” kids. It was wonderful to be able to walk her students to the many historical sites near the school on field trips.
During the summers of 1983 and 1984, Sister Rose worked in Oxford, North Carolina, with several other SNDs in the migrant ministry program sponsored by the Diocese of Raleigh. Sister Rose moved permanently to Durham, North Carolina, and enjoyed working at Duke University Medical Center for 27 years.
Of her upcoming Jubilee, Sister Rose says, “It’s hard to believe that it’s been 65 years since entrance, but ‘there is time enough…’”
Updated in 2026