Seton Hill prof with a passion for the poor
Sister Dorothy Jacko, who spent more than four decades at Seton Hill University where she taught history and religious studies, headed the theology department, and instilled in students and colleagues a strong commitment to help the poor and vulnerable, died Friday after an extended illness.
Sister Dorothy was 83 and died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg.
“She was more than a department head; she had influence on the entire university,” said Fran Leap, a professor of religious studies at Seton Hill whom Sister Dorothy hired in 1991.
A major part of Sister Dorothy’s legacy, Ms. Leap said, was a program she developed about Roman Catholic social teaching that was integrated into all major disciplines at the university, not just the theology department.
“She put in the framework of justice and human rights … so that all teaching faculty could pass that on to their students and they could make a difference in the lives of others,” Ms. Leap said.
Sister Dorothy broadened her global perspective with travel related to her work, including a 1995 trip to Beijing, where she represented Seton Hill and the Sisters of Charity at the United Nations Conference on Women.
During a sabbatical, Ms. Leap said, Sister Dorothy headed a study tour to Europe that traveled to sites in Germany and Italy associated with spiritual women including Catherine of Siena and Elizabeth Ann Seton, both Catholic saints.
“She had a vision of the world that was far more than Greensburg,” Ms. Leap said.
In her classes, Sister Dorothy taught practical skills to advocate for the needy and oppressed such as how to research critical social problems and bring those issues to the attention of policymakers and decision makers.
Her students “were empowered to write letters,” Ms. Leap said. “She made them aware they had a voice in making a difference in society.”
Many of her students, Ms. Leap said, went on to pursue careers in pastoral ministry, social services and even library science because they learned that public libraries were resources for the poor to gain access to knowledge and technology.
Among her students was Christine Freeman, now a psychotherapist at Chestnut Ridge Counseling Services in Uniontown.
When Ms. Freeman arrived at Seton Hill as a freshman in 1993, she was a 40- year- old single mother of three planning to major in religious studies with a minor in women’s studies.
Sister Dorothy “opened up a whole new chapter in my life” because her classes studied Holy Scriptures with a focus on the importance of women and the poor in church history, Ms. Freeman said.
“I see a lot of people on the margin in my work, so she really shaped and informed my life and profession,” Ms. Freeman said.
A native of Johnstown, Pa., Sister Dorothy earned a bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish from Seton Hill and entered the Sisters of Charity in 1959.
She held a master’s in history from Temple University, a master’s in liturgy from the University of Notre Dame, and a doctorate in theology from Regis College, Toronto.
She launched her teaching career in high schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and joined the Seton Hill faculty as a history instructor in 1971.
From 1973 to 1981, she was the school’s director of development and also served as its director of institutional planning from 1974 to 1976.
In 1982, Sister Dorothy began teaching religious studies and theology and was chair of that department from 1987 until she retired from teaching in 2013.
Survivors include two sisters, nieces and nephews.
A funeral was scheduled for Monday at Caritas Christi.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Sisters of Charity, DePaul Center, 144 DePaul Center Road, Greensburg, PA 15601.