COMMENTARY

Sr. Catherine Mullkerin

“May she rest in peace and rise in glory... and may her heroic voice and example never fade from our midst.” http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com

Sr. Catherine Mullkerin wore two habits – that of the Sisters of St. Joseph and that of Jesus’ call to protect the “little ones” (Mark 9:42). Both habits made up her vocation and her voice. “As assistant director of the Boston Archdiocesan Office for Victims of Abuse from 1992 to 1994, Mulkerrin received allegations of clergy abuse and dealt directly with victims. She once said she heard allegations against more than 100 priests during that period.” Click here to read more.  

In 1994, Sr. Catherine resigned her Boston diocesan position but the paper trail she left behind became another part of the case documentation of widespread, longstanding abuse and its cover up by diocesan leaders, all of which burst into the public arena in 2002. As the SNAP website notes from David France’s book Our Fathers:

“She felt the church should actually go looking for victims of sexual abuse, by visiting each alleged perpetrator’s past assignments and making formal announcements. At the very least, she said, notices should be placed in local parish bulletins where the priests had served — victims should be offered prayer and therapy without having to come and ask for it. This she felt was necessary to fulfill the spirit of the new (US Bishop Conference) policy, which called for the church to ‘deal as openly as possible with members of the community. … in 1994, after only two years on the job, Sister Mulkerrin resigned.”

For the Boston Globe obituary, click here.  

Perhaps not in the way Sr. Catherine would have anticipated when she entered the convent in 1955, and like Fr. Tom Doyle, her name is honored as one of the very few Catholics “in the know” who spoke out at once against the incidence and the handling of clergy sexual abuse.