John Paul II Manor, Cresson PA

05/15/2025

We have single and shared rooms available at John Paul II Manor. Please call us for a tour! 814-886-7961

John Paul II Manor, 856 Cambria St., Cresson, PA 16630. A personal care home of the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesuswww.johnpaul2manor.org

05/10/2025

04/12/2025

Thank you, dear students from St. Francis University in Loretto PA who visited our residents today, accompanied by Fr. Will Shee TOR from the university's campus ministry office.

"When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’"
(Mt 25:39-40)

04/11/2025

Our dear Fr. Bernard White, a resident of John Paul II Manor in Cresson, has gone to God. Loved by so many, he will be deeply missed.
Last evening, his friend and confessor, Fr Aron Maghsoudi, offered Mass for Fr White at SCI Laurel Highlands, where Fr. White served as chaplain there and at SCI Smithfield - as Fr White would say, "A minister to the sinister."
His identification with the cross of Christ, his own struggles and hardships, made Fr. White a person uniquely qualified to bring light to darkness, healing to brokenness. Many found their way to God through his counsel as a compassionate and wise confessor.
Father White was caregiver to our John Paul II Manor dogs, Lolek and Lena, who returned his love and affection with canine devotion. He loved to spend hours outside with them on our garden walk - a chair needed to be placed beside him, as many would seek him out to talk or share a lightheartedly joke. Father White even obtained a statue of Christ in His agony for that patio area, like the one he had at an earlier parish, a fitting memorial to a man who was united to Christ in Gethsemane as he endured his own personal agony at times.
A lover of model trains, Fr. White was a man who appreciated simple joys and was a contemplative soul who penned prayers and poems along his journey of life.
He dealt in rhyme and verse, however his priestly identification was with the Eternal Word, who emptied Himself of glory so as to restore us to Divine likeness. Fr. White was a priest who also was poured out like a libation (cf 2 Tm 4, 6).
Father Bernard White has fought the good fight, he has finished the race, he has kept the faith (cf 2 Tm 4,7). Pray God, a glorious crown awaits this hidden and holy priest of God.

Our prayers and sympathy are with Fr White's family and friends, particularly his longtime nurse of 365 hospice, Scott Greene, RN who cared for him, encouraged him on his darkest days and was there to the end.

Funeral information: https://www.caheathfh.com/obituary/FatherBernard-White?utm_campaign=marquee-share-button&utm_term=copy-link&utm_content=Share Obituary

12/16/2024

An Old Lady's Poem

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten ...with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman ...and nature is cruel;
'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years ....all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,..Not a crabby old woman; look closer ...see ME!!

12/16/2024

"I asked an elderly woman once what it was like to be old and to know that the majority of her life was now behind her.

She told me that she has been the same age her entire life. She said the voice inside of her head had never aged. She has always just been the same girl. Her mother's daughter. She had always wondered when she would grow up and be an old woman.

She said she watched her body age and her faculties dull but the person she is inside never got tired. She never aged. She never changed.

Remember, our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever. The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose."

Author Unknown

11/06/2024

“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

11/03/2024

That Was Us
Author Unknown

A little house with three bedrooms, one bathroom and one car on the street,
a mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat.
In the kitchen on the wall we only had one phone
and no need for recording things - someone was always home.

We only had a living room where we would congregate,
unless it was at mealtime in the kitchen where we ate.
We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine.
When meeting as a family, those two rooms would work out fine.

We only had one TV set and channels maybe two,
but always there was one of them with something worth the view.
For snacks we had potato chips that tasted like a chip,
and if you wanted flavor there was Lipton's onion dip.

Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook
and nothing can compare to snacks in Betty Crocker's book.
Weekends were for family trips or staying home to play.
We all did things together even go to church to pray.

When we did our weekend trips depending on the weather,
no one stayed at home because we liked to be together.
Sometimes we would separate to do things on our own,
but we knew where the others were without our own cell phone

Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star,
and nothing can compare to watching movies in your car.
Then there were the picnics at the peak of summer season,
pack a lunch and find some trees and never need a reason.

Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know,
have real action playing ball and no game video.
Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend,
and didn't need insurance or a lawyer to defend
the way that he took care of you or what he had to do,
because he took an oath and strived to do the best for you.

Remember going to the store and shopping casually,
and when you went to pay for it you used your own money?
Nothing that you had to swipe or punch in some amount,
and remember when the cashier person had to really count?
Picture
The milkman used to go from door to door,
and it was just a few cents more than going to the store.
There was a time when mailed letters came right to your door,
without a lot of junk mail ads sent out by every store.

The mailman knew each house by name and knew where it was sent;
there were not loads of mail addressed to 'present occupant'.
There was a time when just one glance was all that it would take,
and you would know the kind of car, the model and the make.

They didn't look like turtles trying to squeeze out every mile;
they were streamlined, white walls, fins and really had some style
One time the music that you played whenever you would jive,
was from a vinyl, big-holed record called a forty-five.

The record player had a post to keep them all in line
and then the records would drop down and play one at a time.
Oh sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today
and always we were striving, trying for a better way.

Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun,
how can you explain a game, just kick the can and run?
And why would boys put baseball cards between bicycle spokes.
And for a nickel, red machines had little bottled Cokes?

This life seemed so much easier slower in some ways.
I love the new technology but I sure do miss those days.
So time moves on and so do we, and nothing stays the same,
but I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.

With all today's technology we grant that it's a plus!
But it's fun to look back and say, HEY LOOK EVERYONE, THAT WAS US!

10/24/2024

THANK YOU to our committed, sacrificial Sisters and staff! Because of you, John Paul II Manor Cresson PA has been voted favorite medical care long term care facility in the Mainliner newspaper.

10/21/2024

Please consider attending this lecture for tomorrow. It was standing room only the last time Fr. Krysa came to Boswell. Call the rectory at Boswell to register.

10/21/2024

Thank you, students and families from Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish, Central City, PA, and event coordinator Marianne Topka for the bingo game for our residents today. God reward you!