A funeral Mass for Sister Patricia Connolly, DC, was celebrated May 7 at Seton Residence Chapel in Evansville, Indiana. Sister Patricia died May 2 at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Evansville. The Daughter of Charity was 82 years old.
She was born on April 14, 1943, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, one of 10 children of Emmett Gregory and Ruth Mae (Flanagan) Connolly. After graduating from Cathedral High School in Sioux Falls, she entered the Daughters of Charity in St. Louis in 1962.
Sister Patricia earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Marillac College (1966) and an master’s degree in spiritual theology from Saint Louis University (1974), both in St. Louis; a master’s in counseling psychology from Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio, Texas (1996); and a certificate of school administration from the University of San Francisco in California (1994).
Sister Patricia served as an elementary teacher at St. Catherine Laboure School in St. Louis (1973-75) and at St. Joseph School in New Orleans, as a teacher and liturgical coordinator at Seton Academy in New Orleans (1975-77), and at Ascension Catholic High School in Donaldsonville, Louisiana (1977-81).
She then served as principal at Alamo/Amarillo Catholic Schools in Amarillo, Texas (1986-94), counselor at Daughters of Charity Services in San Antonio (1996-98), provincial councillor at Marillac Provincialate in St. Louis (1998-2007), program coordinator of Vincentian Integration Experience (VIE) in Chicago, NGO representative at the U.N. in New York (2009), counselor for Ascension DePaul Services (2012-20) and Daughter of Charity Services (2012-19), both in San Antonio, and Dream Path Program and justice director at Ubuntu Center for Peace in East St. Louis, Illinois (2020-23). She then moved to Seton Residence in Evansville to serve in a ministry of prayer until the time of her death.
Sister Patricia was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Tom. She is survived by her sisters Sandy Ris and Jane Mary Jude; her brothers Mark, Tony, John, David, Greg and Joe Connolly; other loving family members, many friends and her Sisters in community.
Burial was in St. Joseph Cemetery in Evansville.
