Sister Naomi Zimmermann, FSE

Sister Naomi Zimmermann serves the Community with a missionary spirit and undaunted perseverance. She has served the Franciscan mission in the Holy Land for several years in her work with the Custody and now in the Franciscan Information Center in Jerusalem.

For four years, Sister Naomi was missioned to Above Rocks, Jamaica, West Indies, where she was a member of the Pastoral Team of St. Mary Roman Catholic Church and Missions for the Archdiocese of Kingston. In Above Rocks, Sister Naomi assisted children in programs for literacy. She led a weekly group for young women to discuss important issues that impact their self-image and self-respect. She prepared young men and women for Confirmation and she organized regular visits to a juvenile girls’ detention center and home for safety. All of her outreaches helped to promote the dignity of each person as she brought to them the Gospel message of faith, hope and love.

Before her time in Above Rocks, Sister Naomi worked as Deputy Director and Educational Consultant at the Holy Child Program in the Holy Land, where she also started the preschool/kindergarten program. In the United States, Sister Naomi was an aide at the Franciscan Montessori Earth School in Portland, Oregon and a teacher at the Franciscan Cre-Act School in Pocatello, Idaho. She also taught at Queen of Peace Elementary School in Cloquet, Minnesota. In addition to teaching children in formal education settings, Sister Naomi has developed, directed and taught in summer camps at many of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist centers.

Sister Naomi earned a B.S. in Education at Southern Connecticut State University. She also holds Masters degrees in Moral Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, and in Education, with an emphasis in special education and therapeutic classrooms, from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.

Wherever she is missioned, Sister Naomi is loved by children and has a gift of creating with them special memories to encourage them as they encounter problems later in life.