Sister Catherine Brehony, IWBS marks 70 years of profession of vows

Sister Catherine Brehony, a Sister of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament of Corpus Christi, celebrated the seventieth anniversary of her religious profession on Oct.19, with Mass at St. Patrick Church and reception at the Incarnate Word Academy Dougherty Center.
 
Born July 26, 1929, in County Sligo, Ireland, Sister Catherine (Teresa Evelyn), is the daughter of John Brehony and Catherine Anne McDonagh Brehony. Her mother introduced Teresa to the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament by talking about and sharing letters from her own two sisters who had entered the Incarnate Word Congregation. Teresa joined her aunts, Sister Margaret Mary and Sister Anna Marie McDonagh when she entered the Order in August of 1947. She was the first of four daughters to enter the Incarnate Word congregation in Corpus Christi. Sister Rita, who died in 1996, Sister Maria Elizabeth, and Sister Colette Brehony followed her to Texas.
 
Sister Catherine earned her bachelor's degree and graduated magna cum laude from Incarnate Word College, San Antonio in 1964, and her master's degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. She also took graduate studies in religious education at St. Thomas University in Houston.
 
Sister Catherine taught in Catholic schools in Corpus Christi, with most of her teaching years at Incarnate Word Academy, Corpus Christi, where she taught mathematics and religion. When she retired from teaching in 2015, the lobby of the Mother Patricia Gunning Gym was renovated and dedicated as the Sister Catherine Brehony Café in her honor. In addition to her teaching in schools, Sister taught religious education at St. Patrick, St. Theresa, St. Paul the Apostle, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Holy Cross, in Flour Bluff and Corpus Christi, and at Our Lady of Refuge in Refugio. At IWA, she directed the student religious education assistants and teachers in their preparation for programs in parishes.
 
In her congregational service, Sister Catherine participated in all the activities of the community, served three four-year terms on the general council, coordinated initial formation, and served as director of postulants. She served as a vocation director for six years and participated in many of the commissions and committees of the congregation. 
 
Sister Catherine continues to witness to the Incarnate Word mission to love and proclaim Jesus, the Incarnate Word, through her prayer and loving service to her sisters and visitors to Incarnate Word Convent. She prays that the women who follow Jesus in religious life will be “women of deep faith and prayer in their personal relationship with Jesus, that they will have a strong commitment to nurturing others who will serve the people of God through witness, teaching, catechetical work, and serving the needs of the poor. 
 
“I hope they will radiate happiness and peace and be a sign of God’s love, presence, and hope for a broken world, she said. To do this, we must all be firmly rooted in a relationship with Jesus, the Incarnate Word.”