On May 26, 2018, Mother John Marie Stewart, DLJC, the foundress of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Franciscan charismatic religious community, passed into eternal life. Her funeral Mass was celebrated by Most Reverend Patrick J. Zurek, Bishop of Amarillo. He was joined by Most Rev. Samuel Jacobs, Bishop Emeritus of Houma, LA, as well as other priests.
Mother John Marie was born in Arkansas in 1926 to a family of Methodist ministers, elders and missionaries. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in nursing. While working towards a Ph.D. in English Literature at Columbia University, Mother John Marie, a Catholic convert who gradually became a secular humanist, was brought back to the Catholic faith after a long absence by the quiet evangelization of a Catholic sister.
In February 1969, two years after the beginning of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the United States, Mother received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the ensuing years she participated in street evangelization and attended many Charismatic Conferences.
On January 22, 1972, while on retreat at a Poor Clare Monastery, the Lord gave her the community’s Founding Document which along with the Franciscan Third Order Regular Rule and Constitutions are the framework of their way of life. The Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were erected as an Institute of Diocesan Rite on April 7, 1991 in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas
By her untiring love for souls, Mother John Marie taught her spiritual daughters to “go after the lost sheep” and then help them receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit through the Charismatic Renewal. She traveled the world where she was never afraid to openly declare that “Jesus is Lord” and to remind people that Jesus loved them.
Mother John Marie leaves behind thirty-eight spiritual daughters―thirty sisters in Perpetual Profession; three in Temporarily Profession; and one Novice and three Postulants. Their Motherhouse is in Prayer Town, Texas and they also have local houses in Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Mexico.
For more information, please visit: www.dljc.org
