October 3, 1947 – September 6, 2026
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sister Barbara Dreher, CSJ, who passed away on September 6, 2026, at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis. She was 78 years of age.
Sister Barbara Lynn Dreher, baptized Barbara Jean, was born on October 3, 1947, in St. Louis to parents Henry Ernst and Bernice M. (Fahrner) Dreher. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1965 and was received into the novitiate in 1966. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Avila College (now University), Kansas City, Missouri, in 1971, a master’s degree in religious studies from the University of San Francisco in 1977; and a master’s degree in theological studies from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, California, in 1990.
After teaching first grade at Visitation Grade School in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1971 to 1975, Sister Barbara ministered in several parish religious education programs in Colorado. From 1971 to 1991, she served as consultant, teacher trainer and author at William H. Sadlier, Inc., a textbook company for religious education in Catholic Schools. During that time, she was also coordinator of adult education at St. James Parish in Denver (1977-1978), co-director of religious education at St. Mary’s Parish in Littleton (1975-1983) and director of religious education at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Boulder (1983-1988).
In 1991, a year after directing the religious education program at St. Christopher’s Parish in San Jose, California, Sister Barbara returned to St. Louis to minister as co-director of vocation education for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province.
In 1992, Sister Barbara began serving her CSJ community as a member of the St. Louis Province Leadership Team, as assistant province director (1992-1996) and as director (1996-2002).
She was the chancellor of Fontbonne University, St. Louis, from 2003 to 2006. Sister Barbara returned to serving her CSJ community as the executive director of the Office of Development for the St. Louis Province until 2013. She then went on to serve the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a member of the Congregational Leadership Team from 2014 to 2020.
Sister Barbara retired in 2020. She moved to Nazareth Living Center in 2023 to carry out her ministry of prayer and presence.
Sister Barbara readily admitted that prayer was the center point of her life. She collected words — especially verbs — that challenged her; dabbled in writing poetry; turned nouns into verbs and verbs into adjectives to unleash their meaning; grilled anything that fit on the grill; and was strengthened and challenged to live life with gusto and contagious faith by her sisters in community, and by all family and friends.
A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, September 11, 2026, at Nazareth Living Center Chapel, 2 Nazareth Lane, St. Louis, MO 63129. Visitation will be at 9 a.m. CT, followed by the Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. The Funeral Mass will be livestreamed at: video.ibm.com/channel/csjsl-general
Memorial contributions may be made to: Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province, 6400 Minnesota Ave., St. Louis, MO 63111-2899 or donate online.