Sister Joan, formerly Sister Joseph Bernard, was a native of Joliet, Illinois. She attended St. Raymond’s Grade School and St. Francis Academy, both staffed by the Joliet Franciscans.
After graduating from high school, she worked in several offices in downtown Chicago – commuting with many other Joliet residents via the Rock Island train to Chicago. And after two years of working in business offices in Chicago, she entered the Sisters of Providence on July 22, 1950.
She graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College with a bachelor’s degree in business and English, and also has a master’s degree in business from Indiana University.
Of her ministries, Sister Joan has taught at St. Columbkille High School in Chicago; St. John in Loogootee, Indiana, where she taught business classes until the high school closed due to a fire in the grade school.
Here is Sister Joan’s complete ministry:
Sister Joan Zlogar (formerly Sister Joseph Bernard)
Complete Ministry
In Illinois: Teacher, St. Mark, Chicago (1953); Teacher, St. Columbkille High School, Chicago (1953-57); Teacher, Marywood, Evanston (1957-58); Teacher, St. Columbkille, Chicago (1958-66); Assistant Principal, Director of Student Affairs, Mother Theodore Guerin High School, River Grove (1969-73); Teacher, Chairperson of Business Department, Josephinum High School, Chicago (1986-87); Principal, Mother Theodore Guerin High School, River Grove (1987-91); Assistant to Province Treasurer, Cenacle Midwest Provincialate, Chicago (1992-97).
In Washington, D.C.: Chairperson of Business Department, Immaculata College (1974-78).
In Indiana: Teacher, St. John High School, Loogootee (1966-69); Teacher, Washington Catholic High School, Washington (1973-74); Provincial Treasurer, St. Gabriel Province, Indianapolis (1978-85); Student/Administrative Assistant, Cathedral High School, Indianapolis (1985-86); Assistant Planned Giving Manager, Office of Congregational Advancement, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (1997-1999); Planned Giving Manager/Coordinator of St. Columbkille Alumnae, Office of Congregational Advancement, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (1999-2011); Volunteer, St. Ann Clinic, Union Hospital, Terre Haute (2012-13); Volunteer/Surgery Hostess, Wabash Valley Health Center, Union Hospital (2014-17); Volunteer/Receptionist, Union Hospital (2017-19); Prayer, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (2019).
She then became the assistant principal at Mother Theodore Guerin in River Grove, Illinois, before teaching at Washington Catholic High School in Washington, Indiana.
Sister Joan has also ministered at Immaculata Junior College in Washington, D.C., before spending time as a teacher at Josephinum High School in Chicago. She was also the principal at Mother Guerin High School in River Grove.
Following her time as principal, she took a sabbatical before ministering as the assistant to the treasurer of the Cenacle Sisters in Chicago, where she remained until becoming the Sisters of Providence Planned Giving Manager, where she remained until “retiring” at the age of 80.
Currently, Sister Joan ministers in residential services at the Woods.
