Susan Rose Francois is a perpetually professed

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

sister of the order of

the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace __notoc__ The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace are a Roman Catholic religious order of women which was founded in January 1884 in the Diocese of Nottingham, England by Margaret Anna Cusack. History Cusack was raised in the Anglican church, but c ...

. She is an author, columnist, and blogger on religious life and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. She has been active in the

Nuns on the Bus Nuns on the Bus is a Catholic advocacy group in the United States. Their name comes from the fact that they tour the country on a bus. Led by Sister Simone Campbell, they place emphasis on the Church's long-standing commitment to social justice. ...

movement, and came to the attention of mainstream media because of her daily practice of tweeting a prayer to US President Donald Trump.

Early life, education, religious life

Susan Francois was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1972. She is the youngest of 5 children (

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, Marie, Michael, Monica, and Susan). Her father Francis Francois was a local politician in Bowie,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

focused on a mix of social and transportation planning issues, and her mother Eileen Schmelzer was a social worker supporting the local population of prisoners and their families. She was raised in Bowie and attended primary and secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Washington, graduating from

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington ...

, before attending

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & C ...

Portland Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, graduating in 1994. She worked for the city of Portland for 11 years before then joining the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in 2006. She later received a

Master of Theology Master of Theology ( la, Theologiae Magister, abbreviated MTh, ThM, or MTheol) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a sta ...

degree from the Chicago-based

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world and trains men and women for lay and orda ...

. She is the grand niece of Sister Rose Francois, FSPA, a prominent 19th Century American nun. She was elected t
Congregation Leadership Team
of her religious community in 2015 and currently serves as the Assistant Congregation Leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. After joining the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in 2006, she took her final vows in 2011. Her ministry includes

and the fight against human trafficking, which she carries out through a mix of action, her writings, and social media (including her blogging and her daily prayer for President Trump.) : ''“I have no conception that he reads them. I'm not sending them to his personal account. I'm sending them to the POTUS account. And the reason for that is I in my theological studies studied the theology of resistance as an ethical response. And I know that the POTUS account is archived, theoretically. And so I really want that as a record of history. So I'm not sending it to aggravate him, to attend to him. I don't think people need to know that you're praying for them for them to feel it. It's more just to hold me accountable and to be public in that act of love.”'' : Sister Susan Rose, Interview on National Public Radio

Publications

''Books'' * My Friend Joe: Reflections on St. Joseph (Kenmare Press, 2021) * "Religious Life in a Time of Fog," In Our Own Words: Religiouse Life in a Changing World (Liturgical Press, 2018) ''Columns'' * Contributor to Global Sisters Report

References and citations

''External references''
The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace

Musings of a Discerning Woman by Susan Francois, CSJP

At the Corner of Susan and St. Joseph by Susan Francois, CSJP
''Citations'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Francois, Susan Rose 1972 births Living people People from Bowie, Maryland DeMatha Catholic High School alumni 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns