Sr. Conchetta LoPresti, left, signs Lord with the sign choir during a 2013 Mass at Resurrection Parish in Cheektowaga, New York. (Courtesy of Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities)
Sr. Conchetta LoPresti likes to talk with her hands. Since she s Italian, it comes naturally to her.
She grew up in Avalon, Pennsylvania, with a grandmother who didn t speak English. LoPresti didn t speak Italian, and her father busy in the grocery store he ran wasn t available to interpret for the two, so they communicated with body language and signs.
After LoPresti graduated from California University of Pennsylvania, she entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Millvale, Pennsylvania, in 1970. She will celebrate her 50th jubilee of profession this year.