Alice Louise Lamb was born on January 28, 1927 to Francis and Catherine Lamb in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was baptized at St. Joseph’s Church, also in Quincy on February 13, 1927.
At 24 years of age, while working as an insurance underwriter in Boston, Alice applied to enter the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity. She began her Postulancy in Norwood, MA on August 5, 1951. On March 24, 1952, Alice entered the novitiate and received the name Sister Catherine Francis of the Passion.
On March 25, 1953, Sister Catherine Francis made her first profession of vows. She was then assigned to Catholic Social Services in Pensacola, Florida where she experienced our efforts to minister especially to the poor and abandoned.
On January 8, 1956, Sister wrote to the General Custodian, Mother Mary Sebastian requesting permission to make her Final Vows. She said, “I thank God for the grace of a vocation and that I may have continued perseverance. My desire is not only to be a religious, but a good Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity. She, of course, received permission and professed Final Vows on March 25, 1956.
The years that followed took her to many and varied missions and experiences. In her letter congratulating Catherine on her Golden Jubilee, Sister Barbara DeMoranville, the then General Custodian, said “You have been sensitive to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and faithful to the challenges of religious life. You journey in a spirit of openness and have been available to the needs of our Community”.
Her openness and availability took her to Greensburg, PA; Brooklyn, NY; Rockford, IL; Intra Community Service; Paterson, NJ and to her native New England in Fall River and Wareham, MA. These places of ministry deepened her commitment to justice issues, to working closely with and inspiring a missionary spirit in the laity.
After her experience in Rockford, where she worked with and came to love the Mexican community there, Catherine attended and graduated from the School of Social Work of Catholic University in 1972. Her concentration was in Community Organizing.
In 1973, Catherine began a ministry with our ST brothers that would enable her to work more directly with the laity, and encourage the laity in the importance of their role in the Church and in the world. Catherine collaborated in this ministry with Brother Loughlin Sofield and Father Joseph Cornerly.
While it was called the Office of Lay Ministry, they were people on the move, traveling throughout the country, visiting cenacles and parishes, encouraging clergy and religious to be more open, more conscious and appreciative of the importance of the laity who not only are ministered to, but who also minister.
In her next mission, Catherine returned to Pensacola where she became the Director of Catholic Social Services at a most challenging time. This was a time of immigrants and refugees, the time of the Freedom Flotilla from Cuba, and resettlement of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. This was also a time when Bishop Rene Gracida insisted that seminarians rotate through Catholic Social Services. Catherine in many ways became a mentor for these young men who appreciated her wisdom and relied on her guidance even after their ordination to the priesthood. In addition to her Catholic Social Service responsibilities, she also served as a spiritual guide and companion for the deacons’ wives.
Following her ministry in Pensacola, Catherine had the opportunity for a sabbatical. She always had a keen intellect and a great desire to learn about many things. She had a prayerful spirit and dedicated much time to prayer. Catherine also had a great love for Sacred Scripture. So it was no surprise how she planned her sabbatical. She spent a semester at Washington Theological Union. Her course work included: Theology of Church, Moral Theology, Jewish Scripture, Christology, Pauline Letters and Synoptic Gospels. During that semester, she was attending classes morning, noon and night! The next phase of her sabbatical was at the Desert House of Prayer in Arizona.
In 1985, Catherine was asked to be the coordinator of the Trinitarian Endowment Fund and shortly thereafter to be Director of Fund Development.
In 1989 Catherine was missioned to the Diocese of Paterson as Director of Parish Social Ministry, and in 1997 Director of Parish Social Ministry in the Diocese of Fall River. In both of these dioceses she excelled in promoting Catholic Social teaching and truly lived out Article 5 of our Rule of Life, “Our chief effort is to develop an apostolic spirit in the laity with the goal that every Catholic be an apostle”.
Catherine’s next mission in 2001 was to St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, MA. This was supposed to be part-time ministry. Her principal role to was to be ministry to shut ins. However, part time can be quite elastic. So can a job description! Catherine was a great support to the DRE and gave a supportive presence to other ministries as well. She spearheaded an Evangelization project with the help of a grant from the Endowment Fund for which she applied. She was a wonderful support to the MCA. She was a member of the parish vocation committee and helped plan vocation retreats for young women to which she invited Srs Olivia, Barbara and myself to lead. She was a number one cheerleader for our vocation efforts. Catherine was supportive of the young women coming from Latin America, and studied Spanish at various times, even spending several weeks in Temascalapa. She said, “When these women come to us I want to be able to speak with them”.
In a meeting with Sr. Joan Marie Keller, she said, “Anyone can do what I do, but I do it as an MSBT. MSBT is who I am. It is at the core of my being. It is at the core of all I do.”
In a letter of recommendation to enter the Community her pastor wrote, “Alice has kindness and simplicity in abundance and great courage and vision. I believe she is capable of almost limitless good”. Didn’t we see that lived out for the next 73 years?
Catherine was blessed with a fine intellect and a wisdom that helped her cut through the forest of nonsense and confusion. She had the ability to see things as they really are and maintain a positive and optimistic attitude and not be defeated by the various “storms” that so often come our way during our lifetime and drag us down.
St. John of the Cross says, “In the end you will be judged on love”. Above all, Catherine loved God. She had a deep love for her family. She was so proud of each one of her nieces and nephews and delighted in sharing family news, especially the birth of the new babies. She loved, as is so obvious, her MSBT community and the entire Missionary Cenacle Family. She was the most loyal of friends.
Catherine, we will miss you. We will miss your joy, your contagious laugh, the New England accent that never lessened even after years in the South and Midwest. However, we are consoled because just a few hours after you left us, at Mass we heard the words, “I sought Him… I found Him whom my heart loves.” You found your Beloved; He found you and welcomed you into eternity, and for that we rejoice.
Rest in peace, Sister Catherine Francis, and please continue to pray for us.