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There also, she met 17 year old Mario Rocha, awaiting trial for murder. Convict-
ed, he was sentenced to 29 years to life. Reading the trial transcript, Sister Janet
concluded not only that his lawyer’s defense was incompetent, but, more im-
portantly, that Rocha was innocent. She persuaded attorneys at Latham and Wat-
kins to represent him – pro bono. Fees for their ten years of work would have ex-
ceeded a million dollars. Rocha’s conviction was overturned, and he was set free
from prison in 2006.
In 2004, Sister Janet and others on Holy Family’s Social Concerns Committee
produced a series on Juvenile Justice from a Catholic perspective. From the series
arose the parish’s Restorative Justice Ministry. It has provided volunteers to Cen-
tral Juvenile Hall. It gave rise to our Get on the Bus efforts that enable kids to visit
their parents in prison. Encouraged and inspired by Sister Janet, a former parish-
ioner began to specialize in parole law, and just weeks ago, Sister Janet received a
call from her dear Silvia to let sister know she was out of prison after serving 20
years. Sister Janet’s prayers, persuasion, and persistence again. Still burning and
shining in her eighties, Sister Janet’s life is an inspiring testimony to Jesus Christ.
Prayer
As John and Janet, millenniums apart, both prayerful and dutiful lamps burning
and shining through Jesus Christ, we pray in gratitude for their lives in the hope
that our own may burn and
shine according to your will.
_______
Phil Argento
Eucharistic Minister
Sister Janet at Sisters of the Presentation Residence in San Francisco with Holy Family parish-
ioner Jane Argento.