Sr. Kathleen

St. Vincent Mission & David Crafts



Sr. Kathleen takes client Charles out for a birthday breakfast.

As a tough-talking young woman from Pittsburgh, Kathleen had no trouble fitting in with the mechanics in the service department of a Chrysler dealership where she worked. She was happy with her life, new car, apartment, secure job. Then a friend mentioned Kentucky and the Christian Appalachian Project. Would she want to volunteer? Heck, no, said Kathleen. Actually, her language was more colorful. Still, the ideas sparked her imagination. A sermon fanned the spark into a flame. In what do you find security, God or material possessions? asked the priest. The admonition of Ps. 95—If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your heart—fanned the flame into fire. Kathleen was going to Kentucky.

For two years, beginning in 1979, she worked as a volunteer preschool teacher and then director. After being hired as an employee, she also became volunteer coordinator. CAP workers live in dorm-like housing, and after three years, she’d had enough of community living. She moved into a two-bedroom apartment in a converted barn. She took on a roommate who, she found out, was considering a vocation as a nun. She urged Kathleen to meet these sisters. You go ahead, Kathleen told her. Yet, before long, Kathleen did meet them and found herself spending most weekends with them. She even found herself considering a vocation. No way, she’d tell herself. Yet, she continued to feel the call. Hearing the scripture, Fear is useless; what is needed is trust, convinced her. The next weekend, she told the sister she’d decided to join their monastery.

Then, her longtime friend, Jack, proposed. That very weekend. Well, we could explore that, Kathleen told him. After all, she’d have her noviate year to consider. So, she considered, and Jack came to visit. He observed her with the sisters and said, I think this is what God wants you to do. Sr. Kathleen joined the order in 1985.

After teaching kindergarten at Mountain Christian Academy for six years, Sr. Kathleen became the Executive Director of St. Vincent Mission in David Kentucky. Can I do this? she wondered. Recalling her favorite scriptures, she knew that God was present. St. Vincent Mission requires that Sr. Kathleen juggle many balls:

• Running the David Appalachian craft center with its numerous crafters and volunteers and logging in thousands of road miles taking these crafts to shows around the country. Last year, the mission earned over $30k, most if it going back to the artists and crafters.
• The mission also assists in building and repairing homes for the needy and distributes food and emergency funds.
• In addition, they run a secondhand store, which today offered coats, used and new, for $1.00 and $2.00.
• Education programs
  

If this weren’t enough to fill her time, Sr. Kathleen is a member of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth—the local chapter is working to see that coal companies abide by regulations and serves as board member for both Our Lady of the Way Hospital and the Low Income Housing Coalition.

In her off time, you’ll find this type-A personality watching a Steelers game, relaxing in the hot tub, or humiliating her opponents in cards.