Antona Schedlo, FSPA
A member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Sr. Antona Schedlo spent most of three decades amidst poverty and civil war in El Salvador where she served people in desperate need of her help. A staunch advocate for the poor and marginalized, Sr. Schedlo risked her life fighting injustice and performing educational and pastoral work. Her ministry in El Salvador was the fulfillment of a longtime goal of becoming a missionary. Sr. Schedlo called the day she left for El Salvador “the happiest day of her life.” Four missionaries, including three Catholic Sisters, and 13 priests would be murdered in the country during her service there. The story of Sr. Schedlo’s time in El Salvador is recorded in the book Memoir of a Gringa Missionary: A Dream Fulfilled. Later, Sr. Schedlo was one of the founders of Centro Latino in La Crosse, an organization that provides information about a variety of services available to the Latino community, including English as a second language classes, translation and interpreting services, and medical, legal, employment, housing, food, and clothing resources. She is a member of the Coulee Region Immigration Task Force, a group whose mission is to welcome, advocate, and educate in the service of new, recent, and established immigrants. Also having served as a volunteer at Place of Grace Catholic Worker House and the Salvation Army, Sr. Schedlo said “You will only be happy if you think of others and not just yourself.”