Sister Kathleen Appler, Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity, has Passed Away
Javier F. Chento
March 18, 2020
Sister Kathleen Appler, Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity, has Passed Away
You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence.
(Ps 16:11)
On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, Sister Kathleen APPLER, 68 years of age and 47 years vocation, Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, met her Lord after a life totally given to God in the service of those who are poor and in the Company of the Daughters of Charity.
Eucharist will be celebrated on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal at 140 rue du Bac in Paris.
Please note that no one outside of the MotherHouse will attend the funeral, because of coronavirus quarantine guidelines.
Source: http://filles-de-la-charite.org/
Tags: coronavirus
16 Comments
When I studied in Paris in the Spring of 2018, I remember going to Mass with her and Sister Judith. She was so nice and helped me keep my faith while I was away from home for the first time. May God bless her and keep her.
My deepest gratitude for the grace of having worked with her… the simplest and unassuming Sister i’ve ever known in the company… farewell to you our very dear Sr. Kathleen i will forever remember you… thank you so very much of your gentle presence in me and in us … please continue to pray for us …
You captured Sister Kathleen’s person so well. Simple, welcoming, unassuming, kind. She was one in a million and will be greatly missed.
Graduated from Immaculate Conception Academy Washington, DC in 1963 and was taught by the Daughters of Charity. Blessing on Sister Kathleen Appler.
We join the entire Vincentian Family in prayer for the eternal repose of the soul of Sr. Kathleen Appler, DC our Superioress General. We thank her for the years she has animated the Company towards greater fidelity, authenticity and relevance in our life and mission. May you rest in peace.
I knew her at Rome during the DREAM Project of HIV/AIDS
Awesome sister.
Blessed sister
Daughter of Charity
R.I.P on Heaven
when she visited here in the Philippines I got to meet and gave her respect. this was in 2017 or 2018… she was like a walking saint at that time. She doesnot discriminate even my ministry under the HIV.
Thank you, Sr Kathleen, for your kindness and gentleness. It was always so nice to meet you. You had a way of making even the little people feel important.
As Sister Kathleen’s older familial brother; I can tell you that she always provided a resource for direction in my life. She will be missed not only as a sibling, but as an inspiration to everyone who met her. Through her suffering the last few years she never complained and was always available by phone or email for an encouraging word. May she rest in peace knowing the difference she has made in this life.
Well said Jim. Reflects the feelings and thoughts of our whole clan. ❤️
It was Sr. Appler who helped me get my life together. She hired me to teach at Holy Rosary in 1992 while my daughter also attended the same school. I had graduated from that school myself in 1969. When the school closed in 2000, she helped me get hired by St John the Baptist. After that, I never faltered in doing positive things. She was very nice & always pleasant. My daughter & I will miss her until we meet again in Heaven.
Sr,Kathleen’s departing for heaven is surely a great loss for so many,many
people especially the poor whom Vincent and Louise asked her to care for.
What is most amazing to me, there isn’t anyone who can describe anything
negative about her. Everyone she met, ministered to, listened to , helped in
any way hurts due to her passing. She surely showed God that she wanted
the heaven our Lord earned. She ran the race and now inherits the mansion
prepared for her…God Bless her and all the Daughters of Charity.
Sr. Kathleen Appler was a native of Utica N.Y. area and the Principal of Our Lady of Lourdes School, during the time my children attended. She was a fantastic role model and inspiration for our whole family. She always made time for everyone and her smile was infectious. Our entire family will never forget the difference she made by being in our lives. May she rest in peace in heaven where her faith carried her.
It was our privilege, the Ladies of Charity in Binghamton, New York, to have Sister Kathleen Appler selected as the first English speaking Daughter of Charity, the most recent Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Sister Kathleen was from Utica, NY, a neighboring city of ours in New York State, USA and we are proud of that honor. May Sister Kathleen rest in peace and watch over the devoted Ladies of Charity USA
as we continue the work of Saint Vincent de Paul.
When I heard about Sr. Kathleen’s death I was stunned and cried, for both pain and joy; pain for losing her presence and word with us in the Company of the Daughters of Charity and joy on realizing with the light of the Spirit, that her death indeed is her complete healing; free from all pains of the world and opening the door to her eternal Life. I immediately remembered the moment, when she graced the inauguration of the Province of St. Louise de Marillac -Asia in 2016, in Paranaque, Philippines, and I was among a group of Sisters from Mindanao welcoming her to the Provincial House.We heartily greeted her with “besobeso”,but it was not the face-to-face contact with her that I kept in my heart all these years. It was her allowing/eliciting us to touch her, hold her hands, shoulders, clothes. She was not our Superioress General who elicited and exchanged respectful formalities, solicitous words; she was just another person and DC like us.I did not understand my impression then.Four years after, on the night of her death, while I was meditating before the Holy Eucharist in our Prayer Room in Boracay,on her meaning to me, and I saw the theme of our Assemblies: “BreaK through the gate…Go towards… Encounter…” My heart went back to the moment I met Sr. Kathleen,the message was now clear: touching is the beginning of relationship, the beginning of all mission; and the words of our Assembly Theme became: “Break down the gates to your heart…Let them enter You…Welcome and celebrate their touching You… Establish relationship! After months of prayer, study and preparations for the Assemblies, I realize my preparations has truly started. Thank you Sr. Kathleen, for making my poor person realize that any mission, break through,starts with a breaking in/ a breaking down in me to establish relationship! With your word and person as our Superioress General, you laid the ground for our Assemblies! In this time of world crisis with the Corona virus, please bring to the heart of our Loving Father, with whom we hope you are now in touch, our cries and supplications ! Thank you our Triune God for your gift of Sr. Kathleen to us in the Little Company, the Poor and the World. May you cleanse her of all her impurities and make her worthy of eternal Joy with you, our Blessed Lady of the Miraculous Medal and all your Saints ! You are our only hope, strength and life in our crisis today. Please forgive us of all our sins and omissions and please restore to us the freedom and joy as your beloved children!
I initially met Sister Kathleen in Emmitsburg, Maryland in 2009 during the Bicentennial Celebration of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s foundation of her Community, the Sisters of Charity. We saw each other again in Paris, France during the 400th anniversary celebration of the foundation of the Ladies of Charity, the first organization St. Vincent de Paul founded in France in 1617. And again in Rome, Italy when we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Vincentian Charism in 1617. During the annual Ladies of Charity, USA 400th anniversary celebration in Kansas City, Missouri in September, 2017 I was invited to introduce Sister Kathleen before she gave the keynote address. What an honor for me. As I reflect on my memories of her I realize that the times we were together were all times of significant and communal celebration. I always experienced her as welcoming, gentle and humble.
I sincerely believe, as God’s good and faithful servant she is now enjoying the greatest of all celebrations, being welcomed into the fullness of life by the God she has served all of her life. May God bless and hold close all of those who grieve her loss including her family and all Daughters of Charity worldwide,