Sister Mary Catherine Daley
1922-2008
“She’s friendly, she’s witty, she’s generous, she’s loving, she’s great fun, she’s an outstanding primary teacher, and she’s totally Irish!” wrote Sister Marie Bentz at the beginning of her 2006 interview with Sister Mary Catherine Daley. It is interesting to note that Sister Mary Catherine also had three cousins who were Adrian Dominicans: Sisters Agnes Edward McGill, Marie Brendan Stanton (third cousins), and Eleanore Therese Daly (first cousin), all now deceased.
Catherine O’Keefe and James Daley, Sister Mary Catherine’s parents, were both from County Cork, Ireland. Both emigrated to Chicago, where James Daley became a police officer, and where he met and married Catherine O’Keefe. They were the parents of five children: James, John, Mary Catherine, Robert, and William. Mary Catherine came into the family on May 7, 1922.
Catherine and James Daley were also dedicated parishioners of St. Kevin Parish, where all of their children attended school with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Their four sons were altar boys, and their daughter spent a good deal of her free time helping the sisters with all their chores. So it is not surprising that at the age of sixteen she asked to join them, and she entered the postulate on October 20, 1938. Her brothers, now attending Christian Brothers High School, predicted, “She’ll be home in two weeks, don’t worry!” She proved their prediction wrong, however.
Mary Catherine found the six-month postulancy under Sister Florine Podsedly interesting and enjoyable, and she received the habit and her religious name on April 26, 1939. She found the novitiate under Sister Mary Philip Ryan a bit daunting, but on April 27, 1940, she professed her first vows. During the following summer, she did some practice teaching in the summer classes at Visitation in Detroit.
All of her assignments were in Michigan. Her first assignment sent her to a large Detroit school, St. Theresa, where she spent twelve years as a primary teacher. In her interview she described these years as “happy days, cherished memories, and the good example of a cheerful, outstanding faculty.” For many years, former St. Theresa students continued to visit her.
She studied at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian during the summers, and in June 1950 the college awarded her a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in history and minors in Spanish and English. In following years, she did some additional work at Wayne State University in Detroit.
In 1952 she was transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas School in East Lansing, where she taught second grade for a year. She then spent a year and a half at St. John in Ypsilanti with primary students. As a result of summer study, in 1954 she received a certificate from the Catholic University in Washington, DC, that qualified her to minister to the blind and partially sighted.
She was then sent back to Detroit, to Visitation, for the next five-and-a-half years. It was there that she and Sister Mary Beaubien became friends, and it was there that Sister Mary Catherine learned to drive. At the wake Sister Mary said:
We were the procurators [food buyers] for the house. She knew all about buying, and I was sent along because I was tall and strong. We had no car, but a parishioner was very generous about driving us. On Saturday we’d start out at about 2:00 to the grocery store, and then we’d go to the produce market. We’d go late because the venders wanted to go home and they’d give us all sorts of produce. We’d load the car.
After dinner, we’d go to the bakery. They, too, would give us lots of baked goods. When everything was finished, we’d go to see the superior. She’d look at me and say, “You look tired. You can have a glass of wine and sleep in tomorrow.” Sister Mary Catherine would say to me, “Why do you always look tired, and I don’t!” I’d say, “Well, you get to sleep in tomorrow anyway.”
Her assignment for 1961 caused her a bit of trepidation. She became superior and principal at Our Lady of Sorrows in Detroit, as well as junior high teacher. Since she had been teaching on the primary level, she was a bit nervous about ministering with older children. Her six-year term was a success, however. At the wake, Sister Shirley Cushing shared a remembrance:
Sister Mary Catherine Daley was—is—an unsung hero. I came to tell her story, which I first heard from my priest brother Frank, who witnessed the event.
Sister Mary Catherine was principal/superior of Our Lady of Sorrows in Detroit. As was their practice, the children were marched into Mass in the morning before school. As Mass began, Sister Mary Catherine saw smoke coming from the roof. Mass had started. She sent a sixth grade boy up to tell the celebrant. But with sense and a protective instinct, Sister Mary Catherine waited for no official word from the clergy. She marched the children out of harm’s way as fast as she could without panic, until they were all safely outside and the fire trucks had come. Part of the roof collapsed.
When I spoke with her about it—and I did many times—she only spoke of my brother Frank’s role… No deaths, no injuries, thanks to Sister Mary Catherine’s quick and wise actions. It didn’t make the newspapers… Remember this near tragedy occurred just a few years after the terrible tragedy of Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago, where so many children were killed in that fire.
Sister Brigetta McDonough was the Provincial in the Detroit area at that time, and she and Sister Mary Catherine became friends. Sister Marie Bentz wrote:
During Sister Brigetta’s term as Provincial, Sister Mary Catherine was her willing and capable chauffeur. She drove her to appointments and meetings, everywhere. Being a social, friendly extrovert, Sister Mary Catherine enjoyed these trips and meeting so many fellow Dominicans. In fact, she found later that the way many nuns seemed to remember her was as Sister Brigetta’s driver.
Also during that time, in 1962, Sister Mary Catherine earned a certificate in theology as a result of summer study. Her term ended in 1967, and that same year she lost her beloved father to cancer. In the following years she continued teaching on the junior high level—for two years at St. Mary in St. Clair, for two years at St. Theresa-Visitation in Detroit, and three years at St. Margaret in St. Clair Shores—but returned to the primary grades for three years at St. Peter in Harper Woods.
In 1976 she left the teaching ministry but remained at St. Peter as pastoral minister, a position that she held for seven years. Her mother had become a resident in a care facility where Sister Brigetta was serving as a pastoral minister, and in 1978 Sister Mary Catherine lost her mother to cancer. That same year she also lost her two brothers, James and William, to cancer.
In 1983 Sister Mary Catherine moved to St. Donald in Roseville as a pastoral minister for three years. She then began her sixteen-year ministry at St. Paul in Grosse Pointe Farms, where, at first as assistant director of retirement, she ministered to retired Adrian Dominican Sisters. In 1988 she began a ministry as pastoral minister. A writeup in the bulletin described her ministry:
She was in charge of the ‘39’ers, edited and published the Reporter, visited the homebound and hospitalized, brought them Holy Communion. With a parishioner, she handled the 1,200 gifts each year for the Christmas Giving Tree, operating out of a miniscule office.
In 1992 she decided that she herself should slow down and join the retirement community, but she continued to volunteer her services to the parish until 2002. The bulletin also mentioned her retirement: “Retired???? For this exemplary nun, there is no such thing as retirement. She still counts money every Monday morning, makes Communion calls, and volunteers wherever else she is needed.”
It was at this time that changes were taking place on the Adrian Dominican campus. The Regina and Maria buildings were becoming known as the Dominican Life Center (DLC), and the Regina Residence was being remodeled into apartments. When Sister Mary Catherine learned of this, she added her name to the list of those requesting private apartments. When she left St. Paul in 2002, a page in the parish bulletin called her not the “Christian Servant of the Month” but “Christian Servant of the Years.” In part, we read:
“She is a wonderful person. I love her so much!” This quote is from a St. Paul parishioner when describing our Christian Servant of the Month. Often we take for granted those who are “always there,” responsible and willing to help. Too often they are never thanked properly for their Christian service. We recognize this Christian Servant for her many YEARS of quietly doing for others. We have been blessed to have Sister and must pray for vocations to the religious life so that others may follow in her footsteps… Thank you from all of us at St. Paul, our CHRISTIAN SERVANT OF THE YEARS!
Sister Marie ended the interview by writing:
In October 2002, [Sister Mary Catherine] moved to that very nice apartment which she much enjoyed until the year 2005. It was then that extreme back pain from earlier damage sent her to the hospital for a check-up, the results showing serious osteoporosis of the spine. She followed treatments and recommendations for a while, but soon found it necessary to move to DLC’s adjacent Maria Health Care Center, where help is available and walking distances shorter.
God took Sister Mary Catherine to eternity on February 16, 2008.
Sister Mary Catherine’s wake-remembrance service was held in St. Catherine Chapel on February 19. Her brothers John and Robert were present, as well as her sister-in-law Pat; her nephew Kevin; and her niece Marianne, her husband Dan Olsen, and children Billy, Amanda, Erin, and Carrie. Many Dominican friends were also in the assembly. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, welcomed them, and summarized Sister Mary Catherine’s life and ministry. She also spoke of the last days.
She always looked as if she had stepped off a fashion runway! Of course, she never outgrew her clothes. She found it difficult not to be doing something. Her nature was not to sit back, but to help others. She herself used a walker, but she managed to push several sisters in wheelchairs until it was explained that she could hurt her back doing so. She simply couldn’t “retire.”
She continued to take meals in the main dining room and attend activities until recently, when the walking and traveling became too difficult. Then she ate in the solarium with her friends. She had a number of physical problems, and life was no longer fun for her. She wanted God to come for her! The Lord called her home at the age of eighty-three and in the sixty-eighth year of her religious profession.
Sandy Fisher, a parishioner of St. Paul in Grosse Pointe Farms, sent a fax that was read. She wrote in part:
Sister Mary Catherine’s ministry at St. Paul Parish was filled with loyalty, dedication, and organization. She loved people and was a faithful friend to many. Our memories of her will always be our treasure. Especially on St. Patrick’s Day, when she was known to do the Irish jig!!! Her smile and laugh were contagious, and she was a loving, compassionate woman. We will always keep her in our hearts and prayers.
Sister Joan Donovan spoke of her friendship with Sister Mary Catherine.
Sister Mary Catherine has been a dear friend for twenty years, a friendship that survived a few trials and then became one of those rare gifts that enriches and expands life.
In her friendships, Sister Mary Catherine’s most recognizable gift was her durability. Hers were lasting friendships. She was hospitality par excellence. She loved to host a gathering and join people for a meal or a party. It was this constant of joining others for a meal that reminds me of Jesus… Jesus seems to be either going to or coming from a meal. She was following a pattern laid out for her. She cherished the daily Eucharist.
Sister Mary Catherine’s funeral liturgy was celebrated on February 20. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist. Father spoke of the anointing service held about ten days ago, attended by many of her friends. “I was aware of how poorly Sister was feeling, but she joined in the prayer with a strong voice.”
Those who have spoken of Sister Mary Catherine have identified her as a wisdom figure. She shared the divine wisdom for many years as a teacher and pastoral minister… In her life and ministry, she taught and lived the spirit of the Beatitudes… She enjoyed entertaining others, had a ready smile, and a true Irish wit… She had a real capacity for friendship. We experience the love of God most often as it is mediated through friends.
Father reminded the assembly that preparations are being made for the great Feast of Easter, but that Sister Mary Catherine has taken a shortcut this year. She is now enjoying God’s loving hospitality for all eternity. As Sister Joan said, “You have reached the eternal banquet. Please, save me a place at the table!” Everyone can agree with that.