Vale Sr Kathleen Slattery
23/04/2025Sr Kathleen Slattery RSM 11/3/1931 – 11/4/2025
Sister Kathleen Slattery RSM passed away on Friday 11 April at Bethlehem Home for the Aged, Bendigo, in the 74th year of her religious profession.
Born into a large family in Diggora (near Rochester) in March 1931, Kathleen won a scholarship to attend St Mary’s College and was the only member of her family to do so. She boarded from 1944 to 1948 and decided to become a teacher and to join the Sisters of Mercy when she left school.
As a teacher since 1951, Sister Kathleen was well-placed to be an innovative and dynamic leader during the education revolution of the 1960s. She wanted to “develop within the children a sense of personal responsibility and a sense of themselves”.
She was the foundation Principal of St Peter’s Primary School in North Bendigo in 1971. In July 2022, she celebrated the school’s 50th anniversary and reflected on how difficult the early days had been when the school was hastily opened to take enrolment pressure off St Kilian’s. “It was a little dust bowl and nothing else. We didn’t have any money”. From the beginning, Sister Kathleen wanted to help students develop a sense of their own worth and take responsibility for their lives. “That was the dream that I had for these little children.” In 2017, while attending the opening of a new facility, she felt that her dream had been realised.
Over the years, Sister Kathleen was a great supporter of Catherine McAuley College Bendigo and attended many reunions, including Boarders’ Reunions and gatherings of the Class of 1944 and Class of 1945. In 2019, she celebrated the 75th reunion of the Proficiency Class of 1944 with three of her former classmates, Marie Cavagna Dean, Dawn Tieman Francis and Monica Tobin Hamilton.
In 2021, she celebrated her 90th birthday with a luncheon attended by the Bishop of Sandhurst, Shane Mackinlay, the then Director of Education for the Diocese of Sandhurst, Paul Desmond, Fathers Junray Rayna, Rom Hayes, Jackson Saunders, Novie Lim, DJ Suguitan and Dean Bongat. Also present were a large number of former colleagues, Sisters of Mercy, family, friends and parishioners.
In recent years, Sister Kathleen has had many opportunities to interact with the College and our current students, thanks to the iGEN program. She enthusiastically participated in Class Masses in the Chapel, enjoyed student visits and attended events where she loved to share stories with the students about her own days at the College.
“Her artistic gifts and creative, innovative approaches in education and faith formation will long be remembered by those who lived and worked with her, as well as by those who received from her generous sharing of them over 70 years.”
Rest now, Sister Kathleen.
