Christmas wonderland created for sisters of Saint Joseph in Brentwood

Kerri Guarascio, director of recreation for Saint Joseph’s Convent, said she and her team knew they had to bring a Christmas display to the sisters no longer able to travel.

Cecilia Dowd

Dec 7, 2023, 11:27 PM

Updated 374 days ago

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While Long Island has a multitude of holiday light displays, some people aren’t always able to venture out.
This was the case for some of the Sisters of Saint Joseph who live in Brentwood.
Kerri Guarascio, director of recreation for Saint Joseph’s Convent, said she and her team knew they had to bring a Christmas display to the sisters no longer able to travel.
So, they asked for donations and lights and decorative items came pouring in – including multiple angels.
“The woman who donated these angels was cleaning out her parents’ house and her mother collected angels, so she said can you use them? And we jumped at every angel that she had,” Guarascio said. Sister Rose Gallagher is 101.
She described the display as “just amazing.”
Sister Pat Turley expressed her gratitude to the recreation team at Saint Joseph’s Convent who put the display together.
“They have brought so much to us, making us feel a whole lot better about getting old in place and still being able to enjoy the beauty, and the reverence, and the holiness of all these sacred days,” she said. “I loved it,” she added. “I loved every bit of it.”
The work began in October but every person on the recreation team agrees the countless hours were more than worth it.