Cathy Smith SL

I was born in Kansas City, Mo., and lived there until I was 4. Then we moved 63 miles away to Topeka, Kan., where we stayed until 1976, then returned to Kansas City. I attended the local Catholic parish grade school and the only Catholic high school. I was taught by many Sisters  of Charity of  Leavenworth.

As many of you know, I am a third-generation Sister of Loretto. My great-aunt Anna Marie Plowman, and my aunt Mary Ann (MA) Cunningham. Loretto roots run deep: my grandmother was a 1926 graduate of Loretto Academy in KC  followed by both my great aunts, along with my Aunt MA, my mother and all three aunts on my father’s side of the family.

There are many, many family stories about being born into Loretto values, works and causes my entire family shares. “The Sisters” made a pretty big impression on my family, and many events or vacations were interrupted to go help out or join the cause when and where we were needed.

I spent two weeks one summer vacation packing up the Convent in Kankakee, Ill. 

In 1986 I decided it was finally time to officially join the Community that I had wanted to join from the second grade, but my dad would not let me at that time. He said, “I needed to know the world first, before I really decided if that is where I wanted to spend my life.”

In 1990, I moved from the Motherhouse to St Louis and lived at the Lockwood House and worked for a home-health agency that provided services to elderly homebound folks and also took on AIDS patients from South St Louis. I was the only case manager willing to go visit, and I had a massive caseload. I had a large number of deaths that year and found a way to bring closure to all of those clients. I got really professional at moving furniture and household items from place to place. I even found a number of ways to bury some clients with no family or means to do so. Then in 1992 I returned to the Motherhouse where I worked in the Infirmary first as Sister Jane Wilcox’s assistant, and then when she retired I became the Director of Social Services for the next eight years. My academic accomplishments include a bachelor’s degree in gerontology and a minor in pastoral care from The College of Mount St. Joseph. 

I spent eight months in Tucson, Ariz., helping to raise my cousin’s two daughters when he suddenly died of a brain aneurysm at 46 in 2004. I returned to Kansas City in November, and then my father had a stroke that December. Helping my parents at that time was a great blessing for all of us. 

In 2006 I began working for the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet in their home-health program  for 13 years until we ran out of clients. Along with weekday hours of caring for elderly homebound, in 2009 I added work at Truman Medical Center as the weekend chaplain, covering the entire hospital and behavioral health units. I was there for 11-and-a-half years. I had done a lot of volunteer disaster work with the Red Cross and met one of the chaplains who ended up hiring me at the hospital. Adding to my growing list of things to do, in December of 2014, a friend of mine needed help with her 4-month-old son. So I became his caregiver/adventure seeker, until Covid came along and home school began mid-March of 2020. We are still great  buddies. In January of 2022, I became the second Community Life Coordinator at the Motherhouse. As you can see, I have experience at doing several things at one time; in this job it can change directions hourly some days.

I  have served on many Loretto committees, including Special Needs, Co-Membership and Assembly Planning a number of times, the Election Committee in 2018 and the Congregational Governance Working Group. For 13 years  I have served on the Loretto Motherhouse Coordinating Board in some way. Under the board, I have served on the Housing Committee, Aesthetics Committee and Integrated Planning   

Loretto continues to enrich my life daily by connections and conversations with others, and I think it is still where I am meant to be.