Sr. Louise Micek, CSJ

Sr. Louise was born an Angelina near what is now Staples Center in Los Angeles. Her father was first generation from the Czech community of Kansas and Nebraska. Her mother was first generation German descent.
She grew up in South Gate CA and attended Pius X High School in Downey. Met the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange there and entered the Community in 1961.

She became a teacher and eventually went as a missionary to Papua New Guinea for 18 years doing mainly education, faith formation, and marriage tribunal work.

When she settled back in California she began visiting the Orange County Women’s jail and met several women going through capital crime cases. This is where her commitment to abolishing the death penalty began.
She went to El Salvador in 1997 for a celebration of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s life and visit Sr. Elena Jaramillo one of her Sisters from Orange working in Terra Blanca, Usulutan.

She went on to ministering with homeless women for another 18 years and is now working at the Sister’s Justice Center with varied issues on housing, immigration, environment and the death penalty.