SHARE

Sister Mary Camilla Kennedy, 88, Of Maryknoll, Missioner/Educator

MARYKNOLL, N.Y. - Sister Mary Camilla Kennedy, MM, died Dec. 14.  She was 88.

Sr. Camilla Kennedy

Sr. Camilla Kennedy

Photo Credit: The Daily Voice/Contributed

Sr. Kennedy was born June 20, 1926, in Syracuse, to Matthew P. Kennedy and Irene Deschamps Kennedy. Following graduation from St. Patrick’s High School in 1944, she entered the Maryknoll congregation at its motherhouse in Maryknoll, Sept. 6, 1944, from St. Patrick’s Parish, Syracuse, and made her final vows March 7, 1950, also at the motherhouse.  A 1980 graduate of St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., where she earned her doctorate in philosophy, Sister also holds an M.A. in theology from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis., and a bachelor’s degree in education from Mary Rogers College, Maryknoll.

Sister was sent to the Marshall Islands in 1950, where she taught Grades 3-8 in Likiep until 1955.  She was then sent to Hawaii, where she taught third grade at Maryknoll Elementary School until 1958. She then returned to the Marshall Islands, teaching seventh and eighth grade in Majuro until 1964.

Sister was named assistant novice mistress of the congregation’s novitiate in Valley Park, Mo., in 1964 and then director of the Orientation Program until 1976 also in St. Louis. Returning to the Center at Maryknoll in 1977, Sister was appointed the center coordinator and then elected a member of the Center Council until 1982. She also served as the Maryknoll Center’s Due Process Moderator from 1985 to 1993. Sister served simultaneously as On-going Education Director and Renewal Coordinator for the congregation. She was appointed coordinator of Mission Research in 1994, a position she held until 1999.  She then worked as the congregation’s consultant for Canon Law from 1999 to 2004, officially retiring in 2006.

Sister Kennedy is survived by her brothers, Rev. Laurence Kennedy and Rev. James B. Kennedy; and sister, Ralph (Helen) Lorenzini, all of Syracuse.

A vespers service will be held Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center at Maryknoll. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday, Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. in the same location. Interment will be in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery at the Center.

For more information, please visit: www.dorseyfuneral.com/

to follow Daily Voice Ossining and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE