Mother Maria Kaupas Center

Mount Carmel, PA

For more than 50 years, the Sisters of St. Casimir followed in Mother Maria’s footsteps by ministering within Holy Cross school and parish in Mount Carmel, PA. When that school closed, the Sisters left the little mining town, but their presence and influence endured. In 2014, when Very Rev. Martin Moran (“Father Marty”) became the pastor of Divine Redeemer Parish in Mount Carmel, the town was suffering the effects of the closing of the coal mines, which resulted in economic depression, drug addiction, depression, and joblessness. 

Father Marty heard about Mother Maria — who had by now been declared a Venerable Servant of God — and her achievements in Mount Carmel and became inspired and deeply committed to sharing her story and honoring the first Lithuanian Catholic School in the United States. He wanted to continue Mother Maria’s great work and partnered with surrounding communities to ensure the sustainability of the Mount Carmel area, working with dedicated and committed people at the Mother Maria Kaupas Center and Bucknell University. Mother Maria’s dream continues to live on, once again, in new and wonderful ways.