Sister Catherine Goodell, SSND
January 30, 1919 – July 11, 2018
Sister Catherine Goodell bore the religious name Mary Ursuline for many years of her life, during which she was often called “Urs,” as she wrote in her autobiography. She also noted that from her baptismal name, Catherine Patricia, she had the nicknames Kitty, Katie and Kate.
Catherine was born on January 30, 1919, in Roxbury, MA, and baptized on February 23, in St. Benedict Church in Somerville, MA. Harry Goodell, her father, came from Mars Hill, Maine, of unbaptized parents; her mother, Mary Ellen Stanton, was born in Boston of Irish immigrant parents. Catherine wrote, “It was after their marriage and previous to his leaving for France in 1918, that my father was baptized. I was six months old when he returned. We lived in Somerville, and here in 1921 my sister, Alice Marie, was born.” One more child, Harry Stanton, was born in 1923 in Detroit, MI.
Catherine’s schooling became a mixture of Wilson Public School in Detroit and St. Gabriel’s Catholic School, where at the age of seven she received First Communion, with Confirmation following a few weeks later. Dominican Sisters were her teachers there. When she was a fourth grader, the family moved to Chicago, and a year later she enrolled in St. Cyril’s School and met the Sisters of Loretto. “It was here, in the sixth grade, that I first thought I would like to be a sister.”
In 1931 we moved again to Charlestown, MA, and in
September I enrolled in eighth grade at St. Benedict School,
in Somerville, with the Sisters of St Joseph. In November
we were in Roxbury, where I made my acquaintance with
the School Sisters and met Sister Aloysius. I shall never
forget my first impression of our sisters. It was one of admiration
and possibly ‘love at first sight.’ The sisters were all kindness and
patience with me, who was not acquainted with their school
methods.
Catherine graduated from Mission Grammar and Mission High Schools in 1932 and 1936. She chose the Commercial Course in high school “thinking perhaps I would go to work when I left school and also trying to convince myself that I really did not want to be a sister.” At the usual private interview with Principal Sister Cataldus, Catherine was in a dilemma, knowing one of the questions would be on her plans for the future. She first explained the need to go to work because of the Depression, but really knowing it was a “yes” to being a sister. Sister Cataldus told her she could give the answer in two weeks on the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The decision, however, was made the very day of the interview after consulting Rev. Joseph Breslin, CSsR, who recommended her. In two weeks she returned to Sister Cataldus with her answer and her mother’s consent.
On August 28, 1936, Catherine received the bonnet with two companions in the high school convent chapel, and the next morning journeyed to the Motherhouse on Aisquith Street in Baltimore. For two years she lived there as a candidate “trying to observe faithfully our rules, but there have been times, sorry to say, when I could have done better.” She also wrote with gratitude,
It is impossible to even try to thank everybody for the
many, many kindnesses and especially for the guidance
of experienced hands. Sister Myles and Sister Fermina
will ever have a place in my prayers that God may spare
them long in his service. Likewise the House Sisters who
work unceasingly for all.
On entering the novitiate, Catherine became Sister Mary Ursuline and made first profession on July 27, 1939. Saint Boniface, Philadelphia was her first mission, where she taught 75 fourth graders until 1944, when she went to St. Lawrence, Sayville, NY for five more years. In 1945 she made final profession.
From 1949 to 1961, Sister Ursuline was in the heart of “Baptist Country” at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, a de-activated Army base. This was a new mission of the Baltimore province, co-founded by Sisters Rosemary Delaney, Francis Mensik, and Ursuline. Presiding over the wake service for Catherine, Francis remembered that St. Gerard’s School was non-denominational, since there were very few Catholics in the area, and the people had never seen sisters. Catherine taught triple grades six, seven and eight, as well as being principal and superior. Her smile and loving disposition won the hearts of the people. Some left their Baptist Church and founded their own church, so they could send their children to Catholic school. At the wake service, Sister Francis read a letter written by a man of 64 who had lived in the house next to the convent. He wrote of being “fascinated” by Sister Ursuline when he was in her class. “The nuns wore the old habits with the heavily starched wimples and veils. All this was so mysterious to me, a Baptist lad. I remember those long skirts and veils blowing in the Southern winds . . . .”
Catherine spent the years 1961 to 1978 teaching mainly business subjects at St. Michael Commercial High and Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Bishop Neumann Business School in Philadelphia, and St. Peter High in Cambridge, MA.
She then went to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, NH as teacher and assistant librarian. After 30 years there, in 2008, Catherine received the Lux in Tenebris Award, which recognizes members of the St. Thomas community who live their lives as examples of what it means to be a light in darkness. It was the 70th year of her profession.
In that same year, Catherine’s mission changed to Prayer and Presence. When the STA convent that had been built for 24 sisters and became an extension of the school, Catherine and Sister Georganne Pearson, the last two sisters, moved to a house onTrakey Street in Dover, where they remained until coming to Villa Notre Dame in 2014. Here they were supported and much loved by several former students who had become dear friends. Sybil and Charlie George helped Catherine and Georganne to close the house and brought them to Wilton when their health required.
At Villa Notre Dame, Catherine continued her care of Georganne, who was in Lourdes, using a scooter to get there until she fell in late June and was brought to Lourdes on comfort care. She died early in the morning on July 11, comforted by loving sisters and staff. In January 2019, she would have been 100 years old.
Many family members attended the wake service on the evening of July 13. Present also were Charlie George and former Principal Jeffrey Quinn from Dover. Both spoke fondly of Catherine. Current Principal Kevin Collins was represented by his wife Kate. The Liturgy of Christian Burial on July 14 was presided over by Father Paul Sankar from the local parish. Burial followed at St. Mary Cemetery, Bethel, CT.
- Sister Kay O’Connell
