Courtesy of Felician Sisters - Sister Mary Francelita Machnica (back), CSSF, and Sister Mary Edwardine Machnica (center), CSSF, visit with friends they have come to know while helping in Kingstree, S.C.
Sister Mary Francelita Machnica, CSSF, and Sister Mary Edwardine Machnica, CSSF, are two of a kind. Between them, the two real-life siblings have more than 120 years of service as Felician Sisters. For the better part of two decades, they have traveled to one of the poorest counties in South Carolina to minister to the poor, and at 79 and 80 years old they show no signs of slowing down.
“It’s a calling,” said Sister Edwardine, the younger of the two sisters. “It’s a feeling that you get from God.”
Both Sister Edwardine and Sister Francelita became postulants after they graduated from Villa Maria Academy in Buffalo.
“Our parents were very good and religious, too,” said Sister Francelita. “They certainly were a good model for us. We used to go to church not only on Sundays, but on weekdays.”
It was the early 1990s when the sisters first traveled to Kingstree, S.C., to serve among the needy. Several Felician Sisters from the New York and Pennsylvania area minister in Kingstree permanently at the Felician Center, and Sister Edwardine and Sister Francelita drove them there when the ministry first started 20 years ago.
Except for years when they have had a scheduling conflict, Sister Edwardine and Sister Francelita have returned every year since.
“There’s a certain satisfaction that you get from helping others, but we also have fun and we like to do it,” said Sister Edwardine.
“At this time they are getting so many donations and so many people recognizing they are always giving of themselves,” said Sister Francelita. “That’s what we want to do, too, to give of ourselves in any way we can.”
This year, the sisters stayed for two and a half weeks and helped with a variety of tasks at the Felician Center, including distributing food to needy families, preparing Christmas presents for local children, visiting the elderly, and doing general office tasks.
“They are grateful for everything you do for them,” Sister Edwardine said.
“It energizes us and brings us back and rejuvenates our spirit, as well,” said Sister Francelita.
Over the years that they have traveled to Kingstree, the sisters have had the opportunity to develop relationships with the people they have helped.
“There are these people that we see every time we go,” said Sister Francelita. “Flora, who lives right across the street from the sisters, is always happy to see us and when we have an opportunity, like when she celebrated her 75th birthday, we sent her a card and she sent us a thank you because she was so happy that we remembered her.”
Sister Edwardine and Sister Francelita said that not only have they seen Kingstree change for the better over the years, but they have also seen both Catholics and non-Catholics become inspired to offer assistance.
“They have a lot of lay help,” said Sister Francelita. “They have tutors, people that volunteer to help. It became ecumenical because now not only are there people there from the Catholic population, but the Protestants, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, they all come to help the sisters. They work together as one.”
Before their current ministry, the two taught in local Catholic schools. Over the years, Sister Francelita taught grades two through eight at schools in Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, North Collins, Kenmore and Depew.
“When you are a teacher you have to love what you are doing because if you don’t you shouldn’t be teaching,” Sister Francelita said. “I always felt that the children needed that special attention and so I tried giving them that special attention as a teacher and even as a principal.”
Sister Edwardine taught grades one through eight at schools in Buffalo, Tonawanda, Syracuse, Rome, N.Y., North Collins, North Tonawanda and Cheektowaga.
This love of teaching also transferred over to their work in South Carolina. In past years, the sisters helped with the after-school program for the children of Kingstree.
“I used to do science experiments with them and they liked it,” said Sister Edwardine.
Both sisters also held positions as principals. Sister Edwardine at St. Luke School in Buffalo and Our Lady of Czestochowa-Ascension in North Tonawanda. Sister Francelita at Holy Spirit in North Collins, Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda and St. John Kanty in Buffalo.
In addition to their work in South Carolina, Sister Edwardine and Sister Francelita remain active during the rest of the year and said that they will continue to do as much as they can, for as long as possible.
“We hope, as long as our health holds up, we intend to do this and try to work as much as we can,” Sister Francelita said, “as long as God gives us the strength.”
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