Many Josephite Sisters, extended family members and Dominican friends attended the Mass of Christian Burial for Sr Catherine Grant at Christ the King Church, Mayfield on Wednesday 15th May.
Her cousin, Father Anthony Crook presided and concelebrated with Father Garry McKeown who had worked with Sr Catherine in the Bathurst Diocese. The chalice used during the Mass had special significance as it had belonged to Father Julian Tenison Woods, co-founder of the Josephite congregations.
The Mass began with the whole-hearted singing of All Creatures of our God and King. Many family members, Josephite and Dominican Sisters and long-time friends participated in the liturgy.
Sr Kathleen Luchetti delivered the Words of Remembrance on behalf of the Sisters.
Catherine’s much-loved nieces, Gemma and Donna Rygate spoke about Catherine’s early life and recalled the many different paths she took during life.
Catherine was born in Canowindra to Doug and Myra Grant in 1933. She grew up with three sisters, Mary, Monica and Elaine and a brother Max. Margaret and Aidre had died in infancy.
After her schooling, first at St Edward’s in Canowindra and then at St Mary’s Bathurst, Catherine entered the Perthville Sisters’ Novitiate in 1951 where she was given the name of Sr Maria Goretti. She was professed as a Sister of St Joseph on 30 March 1954 and sent out on mission.
From 1954 to 1977, Sr Maria Goretti ministered as a primary school teacher and school principal across the Bathurst diocese, from Gilgandra in the north to Canowindra in the south, Portland in the east and many places in between. During this time, in 1969 Catherine reverted to her baptismal and family name.
In 1978, Catherine’s life and ministry changed when she was permitted to follow her dreams of becoming a nurse. She completed her nurses’ training at St Vincent’s Hospital in Bathurst, before moving to the Mater Hospital North Sydney for a year. Then it was on to Mt Druitt Hospital for four years before returning to Gilgandra as a community nurse.
Catherine worked in Gilgandra from 1985 until her retirement in 1998. There she is remembered not only for her competency as a nurse but also for her generous care and respect for all with whom she came in contact.
The next ten years until 2009, Catherine cared for her fellow Sister, Jenny Buckley on the Central Coast.
Another change in Catherine’s life came in 2013 with her decision to become part of the Lochinvar Josephite congregation. Her new homes were in the Hunter Valley town of Muswellbrook and then the Newcastle suburb of Windale where she visited the sick and elderly.
Finally, in retirement Catherine enjoyed the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters in their community arrangement in Waratah, close to Sr Mary Stafford, her good friend from Novitiate days.
It was in her unit in Waratah that Catherine died unexpectedly and peacefully in her sleep on 3rd May 2024, a couple of weeks after returning from hospital after a fall. She was in her ninety-second year and seventieth year of her religious profession.
After the completion of the Mass, the funeral cortege travelled to Lochinvar where Sr Catherine Grant was laid to rest in the Sisters’ section of the parish cemetery. There with all the Sisters buried in the shade of the gum trees she awaits the Resurrection.
