In Loving Memory...

Sister Katherine Wingfield, CSC
Birth: July 11, 1908 
Profession: August 15, 1934
Death: March 8, 2008

Sister Katherine, or as I first knew her, Sister Carola, was born on July 11, 1908, in Manhattan, New York. Katherine came from a family with a rich historical heritage. Her father, Opley Wingfield, was a policeman of English descent who had served in the Spanish-American War at a fort in the New York Harbor. Her mother, Julia Brennan, was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. Katherine could trace her direct lineage to relatives who came over on the Mayflower. She was, on her mother’s side, a distant cousin of George Washington. When her genealogy was mentioned, Katherine just smiled and giggled a little. She never took herself or her family background too seriously. Katherine had two younger sisters. Elizabeth (Sissy) became Sister Mary Veronica, a Poor Clare sister who died of the black flu at the age of 24. Her youngest sister Gladys (Baby) entered the Sisters of the Presentation and died in 1975. Following in her sister Katherine’s footsteps, she had been an educator in the schools of Harlem and Manhattan.

After high school Katherine attended Hunter College and studied history. Subsequently, she worked in a law office and at Excelsior Saving as a typist and stenographer. During those work years Katherine met Mary Kennedy. They became fast friends and were a support to each other. Together they made a business girls’ retreat at the Cenacle on Riverside Drive in New York City. A Holy Cross priest was their retreat master, and Katherine talked with him about the fact that for months she had been pondering a vocation to religious life. During this retreat the reading at the table was from Troubadours of Christ by Mother M. Eleanore, CSC. The priest told Katherine that she should consider Holy Cross and gave her the address of Saint Paul’s Convent in New York City. Although she had never heard of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Katherine felt in her heart that this was the community for her. She went to the convent, rang the doorbell and told the scholastic Sister Benjamin, who answered the door, that she had come to be a sister. It happened that one of their sisters had just died, and Sister Benjamin went to Sister Una, the superior, and told her that this recently deceased sister had sent them a postulant. Since the sister was being waked at Saint Paul’s Church about a block away, Katherine went there to pay her respects. At the age of 23 Katherine entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

Sister Katherine’s ministry experiences in education were widespread among a variety of ethnic and racial populations. Sister taught children in primary and middle grades from Washington, D.C., to McAllen, Texas, before she became a librarian and home visitor. Her last year of teaching was 1970–71, which was the year we spent together at Saint Louis School in Austin, Texas.

Katherine had an adventuresome spirit. In 1970 we had both volunteered to live in what was called in those days an “experimental house.” While we taught in the school, we shared a little house with Sisters Bernarda Maranto and Lois Plinkert on the parish grounds near the original convent. I can still see Sister Katherine sharing her ideas in our discussions and exploring different prayer forms in community. I can also recall our being in the kitchen together making juice from fresh tomatoes, salad dressing from “scratch,” and vegetable soup for one of the sisters on a Weight Watchers’ food plan. Katherine bobbed around the kitchen asking questions about seasonings and simmering times, etc. We had a lot of fun together. Life was always an exploration, a journey into deeper knowledge and love, even when making soup.

Sister Katherine was a lover of literature, with a book in her hand and three on the go. She was interested in ideas, old and new, and always eager to discuss current issues, especially those related to the poor. An excellent scholar, she immersed herself in learning about issues of social justice. She worked for systemic change while giving direct service. Katherine sought every opportunity to do for the less fortunate. Sisters who lived at Saint Angela’s with her will remember that she had a jar for donations of quarters after bingo, more than suggesting that the winners give up their 25¢ prize. Many of us here at Saint Mary’s remember Katherine inviting, reminding, and hounding us to sign a petition for her current social justice cause. Katherine’s only regret was not being able to do as much for these causes in recent time.

Always very much her own person Katherine modeled for us a transparent singleness of purpose which spoke of God’s presence in the here and now. Both staff and sisters remarked on the twinkle in her good eye and her “thank you, dear” as one parted company. Today, as we see our Sister Katherine free of her cap and coat, no longer needing her gloves and scarf, we can rejoice that she is celebrating in the warmth of God’s love. Now it is our turn to say, “Thank you, dear.”

Written by Sister Suzanne Patterson, 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.