Virginia Longcope, a religious sister who lived out her Catholic faith in south Bethlehem by opening a nonprofit halfway house called Stephen’s Place and helping hundreds of men reenter society after prison, has died.
Longcope, 87, known as Sister Virginia, died Aug. 14 in Reading, where she lived in retirement at St. Joseph Villa.
“I think she was invaluable to this community, both Lehigh and Northampton County,” said Anne Evans of Bethlehem, who befriended Longcope more than two decades ago and serves as chair of the Stephen’s Place fundraising committee.
“She changed the lives of hundreds of men,” Evans said. “She did it in a way that was a little bit of tough love but she really cared about them.”
Longcope, born in Allentown in 1938, began to feel the call to religious life in high school and joined the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1961. She made her final profession of vows in 1966.
Longcope had a 23-year elementary school teaching career in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Diocese of Allentown. She also volunteered for Lehigh County’s Probation and Parole Department. That work inspired her to become a prison chaplain, so she traveled to South Carolina to study in a chaplaincy program.
She earned a master’s degree in social work and spent more than three years with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, watching in dismay as offenders got caught up in what she called the revolving door syndrome: reentering the community with good intentions but relapsing and ending up back in prison.
One of the success stories was a young man named Stephen Poston — a parolee without family who, without Longcope’s intervention, almost certainly would have relapsed into addiction and its near-inevitable companion, crime.
“You should start a house where you can help people like me,” he told her.
The idea took hold. Longcope returned to the Lehigh Valley in 1992, bought a house on Ridge Street and christened it Stephen’s Place in Poston’s honor.
It began operating as a nonprofit in the spring of 1993, with paroled men — nonviolent offenders led to grief by substance abuse — undergoing a three-month program of doing chores, attending 12-step programs and finding jobs.
Five men at a time occupy the house. Longcope, in her years as director, served as housemother, disciplinarian and sounding board for the men, who typically responded well to her warm but no-nonsense ways. Nobody wanted to disappoint Sister Virginia, who treated the men with love while she hammered home the lessons of responsibility and accountability.
At some point, Stephen’s Place clients return to the world — some take five or six months, a few up to a year — with the abiding hope that what they have learned will carry them through a life without relapse.
Close to 400 men have gone through the program since its founding and about three-quarters have gone on to rebuild their lives without relapse or reincarceration. Evans called the success rate “astounding.”
Longcope saw a divine hand at work as she pursued her vision of Stephen’s Place. Not everyone in the street wanted a halfway house there, so she faced a fair amount of resistance. Opposing voices fell silent as the facility began its quiet operations and blended seamlessly into the neighborhood.
“I believe God wanted this house, or it wouldn’t have come to fruition,” Longcope told The Morning Call in a 2018 interview as Stephen’s Place marked its 25th anniversary.
Longcope largely stepped back from work at Stephen’s Place because of serious back surgery and the pandemic. She finally retired in 2023 and was feted with a gala at DeSales University.
Evans said Longcope had declined physically in recent months but remained mentally sharp, always eager for a discussion of current events and politics.
“She had very strong views,” Evans said with a laugh.
Longcope’s funeral was held Wednesday at Holy Guardian Angels Church in Reading. Evans, who attended, said a Stephen’s Place board member who couldn’t make it sent a note saying, “I have no doubt where Sister is now. I hope heaven is ready for her.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart, 2811 Moyers Lane, Reading, PA 19605.
Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com.
