Sr. Catherine Maloney, O.S.B., 1931-2021

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Monday, Nov. 22, in the chapel of St. Mary Monastery for Sister Catherine Patricia Ann Maloney, OSB. While it is not open to the public, the liturgy will be livestreamed at 10 a.m. through the Facebook page of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery.

The burial, which is also private, will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Rock Island.

Sister Catherine died Nov. 18, 2021, at St. Mary Monastery, She was 90.

The daughter of James Edward and Mildred Candace (Truesdell) Maloney, Sister Catherine was born May 11, 1931, in in Estherville, Iowa. She graduated from St. Mary Grade School and High School, and would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa; a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and a certificate in theology from St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wisconsin.

Sister Catherine entered the Benedictine community on Aug. 15, 1949, and professed her first vows on Aug. 23, 1951, at St. Mary Monastery in Nauvoo. She made her final profession as a Sister of St. Benedict on Aug. 24, 1954.

She devoted her ministry to education and hospital and hospice chaplaincy. In the Diocese of Peoria, Sister Catherine taught at St. Mary’s Academy in Nauvoo (1951-52), St. Anthony in Atkinson (1952-53), St. John in Clinton (1953-56), Immaculate Conception in Monmouth (1960-61), St. Mary in Wenona (1961-62), Holy Family in Peoria (1965-69), St. Mary in Moline (1969-73), and Alleman High School in Rock Island (1973-78). She also taught in Munster, Indiana.

Sister Catherine spent 25 years in pastoral care at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria (1979-87), Franciscan Medical Center in Rock Island (1988-93), and Illinois Valley Community Hospital in LaSalle (1995-2000), as hospice chaplain; St. Augustine Manor in Peoria (2000-02) in support to the elderly; and as a hospice volunteer at Genesis Hospital in Davenport, Iowa.

Sister Catherine was taught by the Benedictines at St. Mary School in Moline and when she celebrated her 70th anniversary of consecrated life this year, she said, “Their virtues of honesty, caring, loving and fairness and their prayer life helped lead me to our Benedictine community, hoping that I might come to be like them.”

Preceded in death by her parents; the mother who raised her, Mary Mortensen Maloney; her twin Nancy Ann Gilhooly and sister Maureen Patricia Porter, Sister Catherine is survived by a brother, Thomas Maloney; a sister, Mary Elizabeth Walsh; nieces and nephews; and her Benedictine Sisters.

Memorials may be made to St. Mary Monastery, 2200 88th Ave. West, Rock Island, IL 61201-7649.