Age 89
A woman of deep faith, Sister Kathleen lived a life of leadership, determination, and kindness—an example to us all. She followed Catherine McAuley’s example by connecting those with resources to those without to provide the best education for all children.
Born in Cork, Ireland, one of nine children, Sister Kathleen entered the Sisters of Mercy in Auburn, California, at the age of 18 after graduation from high school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from the University of San Francisco in California.
Initially she taught elementary school for 12 years in the Sacramento, California, diocese. She also served as principal at five different parish schools: Holy Spirit School for five years, St. Robert’s for seven years, Our Lady of Fatima for two years, and St. Joseph’s School for three years, all in Sacramento, California. She was instrumental in establishing SUCCEED, an initiative to provide funding for economically struggling schools. Kathleen served as vice-president on the leadership team of the former Auburn Regional Community and coordinated a process of apostolic planning for the future.
She had a rich and fruitful 33-year ministry at Mercy General Hospital in Auburn, California, where, in her role as director of mission services, she fostered the mission of Mercy and provided comfort and compassion to all she served. In 2025, the family birth center at the hospital was named after her.
She possessed an extraordinary gift for sustaining relationships and counted among her many friends, her students, co-workers, parents from the schools in which she taught as well as those whom she served as patients.