Age 92
Sister Kathleen devoted her heart to Jesus as a vowed religious, sharing her love with everyone God sent her way.
Born to loving Irish parents, her faith was nurtured at home and in the Catholic elementary schools she attended. After high school graduation at the age of 19, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania
She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in pastoral counseling from LaSalle University, also in Philadelphia.
Her passion for teaching elementary and high school students motivated her to spend more than thirty years in education. This ministry also included roles as assistant principal, religion coordinator, and librarian at schools and parishes across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Her students remember that she made learning fun and memorable, often hosting spelling bees and religion bees. One of her most cherished assignments was her service at Mercy Vocational High School, affectionately called “The Tech,” where Sister Kathleen Duffy is deeply loved and remembered with gratitude.
Later in life, Kathleen dedicated herself to serving families by reaching out to single, separated, and divorced parents and their children through her work with the Family Life Bureau and parish ministry of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. Her caring nature also extended to pastoral care at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pennsylvania. In her final years, Kathleen’s compassionate heart found a home at McAuley Convent in Merion, Pennsylvania, where she served as Mercy companion to sisters engaged in the ministry of prayer.