Sister Catherine DeClercq Honored
for Creativity and Leadership in Health Care

June 19, New Orleans, Louisiana – Sister Catherine Camille DeClercq, OP received the Catholic Health Association’s (CHA) 2009 Sister Concilia Moran Visionary Leadership Award on June 7 during the CHA Assembly in New Orleans.

Sister Catherine, Vice President of Governance and Sponsorship for Trinity Health in Novi, Michigan, was recognized for her creativity and visionary leadership within the health ministry. She was instrumental in the 2000 consolidation of Holy Cross Health System and Mercy Health Services into Trinity Health, the fourth-largest Catholic health care system in the nation. Sister Catherine also helped to write the statutes and bylaws for Trinity Health. She later worked with the leadership of the Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Detroit, and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross as they established a new entity, Catholic Health Ministries (CHM), to sponsor Trinity.

Sister Catherine DeClercq, OP, receives the Sister Concilia Moran Award at the 2009 Catholic Health Assembly

Joseph R. Swedish, President and CEO of Trinity Health, in his nomination document, noted Sister Catherine’s “forthrightness and discretion, moral sense and common sense” throughout the consolidation process. “Sister Catherine has been an anchor in stabilizing the structure of the Catholic health ministry as the two systems merged.” Mr. Swedish also praised her for the “wisdom and perspective” she brought to her colleagues and for her “remarkable humility throughout her service in Catholic health care and all of the ministries in which she served.”

“I am filled with awe and gratitude,” Sister Catherine said in accepting the award. She paid tribute to her mentor, Sister Concilia Moran, RSM, who, as a pioneer in the area of sponsorship, helped Sister Catherine, then on the General Council, in her work with the two Adrian Dominican-sponsored hospitals. This led to Sister Catherine’s service for the past 22 years in sponsorship and governance in Catholic health care. 

“Thank you for recognizing my desire to continue [Sister Concilia Moran’s] legacy,” Sister Catherine concluded. “I believe that all of us serving in this ministry will create the future of health care in this country if it is born out of a contemplative posture of discernment on how best to make real the healing ministry of Jesus at a time when healthcare is almost certain to undergo profound change in our country. We must build cohesiveness in Catholic health care, recognizing that all of our charisms are based on the Gospel, so that we may be filled with outrageous hope for the future.”

An Adrian Dominican Sister since 1956, Sister Catherine taught in elementary and high schools in Michigan, New York and Ohio. She served in leadership in the Congregation for many years: as Provincial of the Detroit suburbs in the Catherine of Siena Province in 1971; Canonical Provincial in that province from 1972 to 1974; and as a member of the General Council from 1982 to 1986.