In Loving Memory...

Sister Kathleen Anne Nelligan, CSC
(Sister Mary Clara)
Birth: August 25, 1915
Profession: February 2, 1937
Death: January 17, 2004

As we gather to honor Sister Kathleen Anne’s life, we do so, as always, in the desire to retain the memory of those who have lived the charism of Holy Cross. It is the recognition that each person brings gifts to the circle in which each person is part of the whole.

Today we are immersed in the bittersweet awareness of Kathleen’s release from pain and the gratitude for gifts she shared with us in her lifetime. Those who did not know Kathleen well often underestimated this quiet and unobtrusive person.

For Kathleen Anne, her vows were the mission from which her ministry flowed. The history of her life lists 15 different ministry assignments that recorded her life as educator and administrator; as one involved as servant to the poor and to the elderly. She was a teacher and a responder to Congregational needs. She is remembered especially as an attentive listener, a weaver of connections and above all as a punster extraordinary… and always, she cherished and loved her family, her Irish heritage and her homeland of Utah.

Perhaps her memory is best delineated by the era in which she assumed the leadership of the Congregation. It was the period of time when Vatican II was being implemented, a time in which horizons were visualized, where many different interpretations of the Council were around. We experienced rapid change, renewal chapters, the departure of many of our sisters; the conflicting opinions that had to be held in a balanced tension. For some, the community was moving too fast, for others, it was moving too slow, and for many there was a poignant sense of loss. Kathleen Anne was immersed in our tradition and found common ground with the new. She endured ambiguity and yet brought healing to so many wounded of that time. There was a rhythm of light and darkness.

Perhaps much of what we would like to remember today is a quotation from Jeremiah, frequently cited by Kathleen. As you listen to Jeremiah, remember that this person was a very high introvert and how much the burden of leadership cost her. Jeremiah speaks:

“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me…and you triumphed over me…I say to myself, I will not mention you – will not speak in your name, but then it becomes like fire burning in my heart. I grow weary holding it in…yet, the Lord is with me.” Yet, so often as happens in the scripture, the complainer’s heart is moved to gratitude as Jeremiah relents, and says: “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He has rescued the life of the poor.” This could be Kathleen Anne’s Magnificat.

During her time of retirement at Saint Mary’s, Sister participated in a workshop entitled “Ageless in the Lord.” The participants were asked to do an exercise in which they were to imagine their true self as a garden; to name the flowers in that garden that were descriptive of their inner lives. Fortunately, Kathleen’s descriptions were kept in her file. This enables us to know the truth of her life in her own words…. In her reflections:

The first flower named was a blooming rose with a long stem covered with thorns – symbol of the thorny path that finally brought a rose into bloom…“the red rose symbol of Christ’s blood that mine is joined with his to bring the bloom of NOW.” We can envision this as her whole gift of self to God in the service of others. She was also the suffering servant. Again, light and darkness.

Her second choice was the daisy – symbol of the integrity that is life’s process of seeking truth. We who knew her would express this as speaking the truth in love, her great capacity of speaking truth in the fact of what was false despite the cost, but in doing so, she always respected other persons, never damaging their self-image. Kathleen also chose the pansy as symbol of thoughtfulness and consideration as present in her garden – we hear this as her capacity to love. She included the forget-me-not as a remembrance of God’s goodness in and “through so many who have been a part of my journey.”

Her final choice was the shamrock as it mirrored the Trinitarian awareness in the charism of Father Moreau. “The shamrock plant,” she says, “goes through periods of rejuvenation – the pattern of our lives of dying and rising with Christ and the central doctrine of faith – a sign of my own resurrection.” What was not seen in her own image of self was the wisdom others found in her.

A scriptural passage that most accurately describes this woman called Sister Kathleen Anne is found in Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ and the power flowing from His resurrection; likewise, to share in his sufferings by being formed into the pattern of his death…I have been grasped by Christ Jesus…” by being formed into the pattern of his death… I have been grasped by Christ Jesus.

Written by Sister Olivia Marie, CSC

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of the Holy Cross Ministry With the Poor Fund, Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.