Remembering Sister Kathryn McNulty

Editors note: Do you have an idea for Flashback Friday? Email Jason Moon at jmoon@spsmw.org.

Recently, Kathleen Boshold contacted us asking if we could cook up a Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday blog on the life of Sister Kathryn McNulty, formerly Sister Loretta Michael.

“She was my seventh and eighth grade teacher as Sister Loretta Michael and remained a friend of mine all her life,” Kathleen said. “I’d love to hear about some of her background …”

This week, we’ve decided to take a look at the life of Sister Kathryn McNulty.

Sister Kathryn was born Kathryn Loretta McNulty on May 26, 1933, in Detroit to James Michael and Loretta Gilhooley McNulty. While she was born in Detroit, her family moved to Chicago where Sister Kathryn spent most of her life.

She graduated from Marywood High School in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods with a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics and earned a master’s degree in education from the National College of Education in Evanston.

Sister Kathryn entered the Congregation on July 22, 1955, two months after graduating from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, and professed first and final vows on January 23, 1958 and 1963, respectively.

She began her teaching ministry at St. Benedict School in Terre Haute in 1959 before moving on to Our Lady of Mercy in 1962 in Chicago. In 1967, she taught at St. Andrew in Chicago and in 1970, she taught at St. Francis Xavier in Wilmette, Illinois.

In 1976, Sister Kathryn began a 20-year ministry at St. Angela’s in Chicago, where she taught seventh and eighth grade Religion and English. She stayed there until 1995 before beginning a ministry as a teacher at Providence Family Services in Chicago. She came home to the Woods in 2007.

In her commentary for Sister Kathryn’s obituary, Sister Margaret Quinlan wrote that “She was definitely a people person … She was welcoming, no matter how lousy she felt.”

Sister Margaret added that Sister Kathryn loved to shop and travel with friends, describing a trip with three other sisters to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Chicago.

Sister Margaret said Sister Suzanne Dailey told her that during the parade, the four Sisters found themselves in the middle of a protest that almost turned into a riot. The sisters were separated, but re-grouped a few blocks away in front of a bank that was in the process of being robbed.

Sister Kathryn died on February 13, 2010. She was 76 years old and had been a Sister of Providence for 54 years.