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Sr. Mary Anncarla Costello currently serves as Vicar for Women Religious for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which gives her the opportunity to work with the 117 congregations of women religious who live and minister in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Every day she interacts with sisters, priests and lay people from variety of ministries and cultures. She also sees the unity of one heart and one church in their shared love for Jesus Christ and commitment to the church.  

“As vicar, I address significant aspects of people’s lives – vocation, immigration challenges, canonical issues, relationships within communities,” said Sr. Anncarla. “I have found myself praying on the spot more than ever; every time I answer the phone, I pray that I can help the person on the other end.  And more than ever I realize that I am simply an instrument and it is my privilege to touch lives in a way that I hope is life-giving, reverent and prayerful.” 

Sr. Anncarla’s office offers opportunities for women religious to continue their ongoing formation in a way that is particular to their vocation. One popular example is the Women of Faith series which provides sisters around the archdiocese with an afternoon of fellowship, input and prayer. The program is named in honor of Sr. Faith Clarke, SNJM, her predecessor, and has been funded for the past two years through generosity of her congregation, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. 

Sr. Anncarla’s office sponsors twilight retreats for Advent and Lent as evenings for sisters to come together, to pray, and to be. A key feature of those gatherings the opportunity to get away from the busy-ness of life and quietly pray during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  Two other events she facilitates are the World Day for Consecrated Life and the annual archdiocesan jubilee celebration. “This provides another opportunity for us to celebrate our commitment, be happy for each other, and witness to the world lives of commitment, love, fidelity and service,” she said. 

Sr. Anncarla’s office also assists the nearly 500 immigrant sisters throughout the archdiocese who take the Word of God and the presence of Christ to local communities that share their nationality, language, traditions and culture. To embrace and serve the diversity of the church, she draws upon her experience during ministry at the Notre Dame motherhouse in Rome. For six years, she lived with Sisters of Notre Dame from several countries in the international Notre Dame community. Every day she saw the faces of the church in all cultures and nationalities visiting the Vatican on pilgrimages. 

“This experience prepared me to see Los Angeles in the same way: many cultures, much ethnic diversity and yet one heart and one church,” she said, observing that many people don't realize that Sunday liturgy is celebrated in at least 42 languages in the archdiocese. “The diversity of the local church is a blessing but it is also a challenge. The challenge is to help all of us to remember that we are one heart and one church, respecting the cultures and traditions of each other and at the same time willing to lay some things aside so that the universality of the Body of Christ is evident.” 

To help immigrant sisters adapt to American life, Sister Mary Elizabeth Galt, BVM, and Sr. Anncarla designed a cultural orientation program entitled Sisters Helping Sisters. Funded by the Conrad Hilton Fund for Sisters, the curriculum connects the experience and expertise of American sisters with immigrant sisters who are learning useful details of how to live in the United States.   “Besides sharing important and practical knowledge with these sisters,” said Sr. Anncarla, “the bonds of friendship, support and networking have helped many communities grow closer to each other-- once again reflecting the reality of ‘one heart, one church.’” 

Four years ago Sr. Anncarla’s office created the RIPPLE Language Program-- Religious In Partnership Providing Language Education – to provide immigrant sisters with an opportunity to learn English in a supportive environment. Today the program has five volunteer sisters from various orders -- two Sisters of the Holy Names, a Sister of the Holy Cross, a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary and a Eucharistic Franciscan Missionary Sister -- two laywomen and 23 students.  For the past two years, the Sisters of the Holy Cross have funded an intensive course for these sisters. That program will continue this summer in Bellflower.  

Sr. Anncarla’s ministry allows her to glimpse how women religious will serve the local church in the future. Today there are nearly 2,000 sisters and almost five million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In addition to Sr. Anncarla, sisters provide leadership to the archdiocese as chancellor, directors of various archdiocesan offices, paralegals or judges in the Marriage Tribunal, coordinators of programs in the office of justice and peace, and service on commissions, advisory boards and pastoral councils. Sisters also model collaborative leadership as Parish Life Directors who work with priest ministers and parish councils to meet the spiritual and practical needs of a local parish.  

“The cardinal has tremendous respect for women religious and would like to see them continue to assume leadership roles in the archdiocese, parishes and faith formation,” she said. ‘It comes from the conviction that we are one heart, one church and no one has a monopoly on participation in the local church.”