Sister Gemma Del Duca, a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill and the Co-Founder Emerita of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, has been recognized by Governor Josh Shapiro and First Lady Lori Shapiro as one of the 2024 Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania. 

Sister Gemma is among the 11 women honored at the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania annual luncheon at the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg on September 25, 2024.

Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania was organized in 1949 to honor women who had given distinguished service through their careers to their communities, the commonwealth and the nation. In the 76 years since then, a total of 566 extraordinary women of Pennsylvania have been recognized for their professional and volunteer accomplishments. 

“Through her international work in Holocaust education and Christian-Jewish dialogue, Sister Gemma Del Duca has brought great pride to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, her hometown of Greensburg, and the Seton Hill University community,” said Seton Hill President Mary C. Finger. “Her steadfast resolve that we must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and her work to bridge differences to create a more peaceful world makes her more than deserving of being a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. All of us at Seton Hill University are incredibly proud that Sister Gemma has attained this honor.” 

“I am humbled and honored to be named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania and to be recognized among an incredible group of women who have brought great pride to the Commonwealth,” said Sister Gemma Del Duca. “I am grateful for having the opportunity in my life to work with so many people who were dedicated to the work of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education and to Catholic-Jewish relations, and I am hopeful that we do not forget the lessons of the Holocaust, and we continue to work together to mend our broken world.”

Del Duca, 92, grew up in Greensburg in a Catholic family. After graduating from Greensburg High School in 1950, she entered the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill and would make her perpetual vows in 1956.  Sister Gemma was then sent to Rome to study Theology at Regina Mundi, an international school for the theological training of religious women. She returned to Pennsylvania in 1959, teaching at schools in the Pittsburgh region. She completed her degree in History and Philosophy at Seton Hill in 1962, and then received a fellowship to pursue graduate work at the University of New Mexico in the field of Ibero-American Studies, where she received her doctorate in 1966.

Not long after earning her doctorate, Sister Gemma began teaching at Seton Hill College, which was at that time a college for women. Committed to diversity efforts, she helped to found SOUL, an organization that encouraged leadership among African-American students. 

In 1972, Sister Gemma began service as Campus Minister at the University of Virginia and Old Dominion University. Her life – and her ministry – took an abrupt turn in 1975 when she went to Israel to study Hebrew and the Jewish roots of Christianity. In 1977, Sister Gemma joined with Father Isaac Jacob of Saint Vincent College, who was her childhood friend from Greensburg, to establish a center for Jewish-Catholic understanding in Israel leading to the foundation of Tel Gamaliel in Bet Shemesh.

On a return trip to Greensburg in 1987, Sister Gemma began contemplating how she could take the work she was doing in Israel and collaborate in some way with Seton Hill. She and a fellow Sister of Charity, Mary Noel Kernan, approached then-Seton Hill President JoAnne Boyle with the idea for the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) at Seton Hill – one of the first such Center’s in the country.  The mission of the NCCHE is to promote the teaching of the Holocaust at all levels of education and to enhance Catholic-Jewish relations. For more than three decades, Sister Gemma resided in Israel and collaborated with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, on programming for the NCCHE. She was the Center’s “face” in Israel and, through her efforts, countless teachers traveled every summer to Yad Vashem for an intense workshop on the teaching of the Holocaust. During her tenure, the Center established the triennial Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference, which brings luminaries in the field to Seton Hill's campus. 

Sister Gemma has been lauded by numerous organizations for her work in the field of Holocaust education – both Catholic and Jewish. In 2007, she was the first non-Israeli to receive the Excellence in Holocaust Education Award from Yad Vashem. State of Israel Bonds awarded Sister Gemma two awards in 2000, The Elie Wiesel Holocaust Remembrance Medal, and The New Life Award, for her leadership in preserving Holocaust remembrance. In 2002, the United Jewish Federation Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presented Sister Gemma with their “Spirit of Anne Frank Award” in recognition of her work as a Holocaust educator. Seton Hill University honored Sister Gemma, a Distinguished Alumna, with its highest award, The Elizabeth Ann Seton Medal in 1998. Most recently, Sister Gemma was recognized as one of the 2023 Righteous Among the Neighbors, a joint project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the LIGHT Education Initiative, to honor non-Jewish Pittsburghers who have supported the Jewish community and stood up against antisemitism, particularly in response to the October 27th, 2018 attack on three Pittsburgh-area Jewish congregations.

Sister Gemma continues to speak out against antisemitism and to foster a culture of collaboration and dialogue. She continues her work with the NCCHE today as Director Emerita – even after officially retiring in 2015.