When TV executives predicted that college football’s Bowl Championship Series title game would attract a record number of viewers, maybe they sensed that Sister Catherine Marie McGranary, DC, would be enlisting a pack of her fellow senior sisters to watch.
Excerpts from an article in The Evangelist (Albany)
Love of Notre Dame football
At Monday night gatherings in a common room of St. Louise House in Menands – the Daughters of Charity religious order’s residence for senior sisters – the 92-year-old sister watches every Notre Dame game and even some repeats.
Besides, she explained with excitement, this was her beloved team’s first national championship attempt since 1988. She remembers that season, too … Sister Catherine Marie’s “Fighting Irish” fandom was passed down by her father. “I have every banner and poster that you can think of all over my walls,” she boasted.
There’s a healthy dose of religious paraphernalia in her room, too, and the sister prioritizes daily Mass, morning and evening prayers and other meditations throughout the day. She also crochets blankets and procures clothing donations for a daycare center in Niagara Falls, reads novels by the likes of Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts and takes advantage of local trips and activities sponsored by the house.
Vocation story
Sister Catherine Marie entered the Daughters of Charity in 1947 after sporadically discerning a childhood call brought on by the sisters who taught her in elementary school in Wilmington, Del.
“I really fell in love with the sisters” . “They were so kind and so supportive and I really felt like God was calling me.”
She accompanied a teacher on a home visit to a poor, elderly couple and “felt attracted to [the service]. The more I did it, the more I thought, ‘This is something worthwhile.'”
Remember when
She remembers when the Daughters wore religious habits, didn’t offer vacation time and prohibited sisters from visiting family.
“It was strict,” she said. “Our community was known for that.”
Gradually, the rules softened, and Sister Catherine Marie welcomed the changes: “I thought they were healthy.”
She fondly recalls vacations to the Jersey Shore and anniversary trips to Paris and Ireland – and that time in 1965 when sisters were asked to pray for 65 new postulants.
“And didn’t we get 65!” she said. “I never forgot that.”
Tags: Albany, Daughters of Charity
