Sister Mary Kathleen Sheehan’s Retirement Celebration
By Rep. Darryl Owens

It’s hard to imagine the St. John Center without the constant presence of Sister Mary Kathleen Sheehan.

She has been the guiding force, the calming voice and the ferocious warrior for this important institution for more than two decades, and what a legacy she leaves us.

In thinking about Sr. Kathleen I can’t help make comparisons to another compassionate angel who dedicated her life to helping others.

Mother Teresa was well quoted throughout her life of helping the poor, the lepers and the castoffs of society, and the parallels between her words and Sister Kathleen’s work are quite astounding.

Mother Teresa said “I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?”

Sister Kathleen has been the next door neighbor to so many homeless men over the years, men who had no home, but found solace and a friend in Sister Kathleen at St. Johns.

She knows practically every guest by name. With our lifestyles, friends, family and colleagues, we take for granted the many greetings we hear each day. But at St. Johns, Sister Kathleen understood the importance of those men hearing their names spoken aloud.

Mother Teresa said “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.”

Sister Kathleen has made every guest at the St. John Center feel like they were somebody and has treated them with respect and dignity, along with a dose of discipline and toughness, when needed.

Mother Teresa said “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”

How many of us in this room has Sister Kathleen tapped for advice, resources, money, volunteers, advocacy and support year after year?

She has worked tirelessly on behalf of the St. John Center and the homeless men it serves, patiently going person to person to reach her goal for the day – whether it was new computers, clothing, housing or job assistance for her guests.

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”

Those too are words from Mother Teresa, but could they not have been spoken by Sister Kathleen?

She has always recognized that being homeless wasn’t the worst thing that has happened to the men that pass through the doors of the St. John Center.

It was the end result from other societal misfortune which ultimately brought them to this doorstep.

Financial ruin, job loss and humiliation, broken relationships, severed family ties, mental illness or the twin demons of alcohol and drug addiction were to blame.

Government, particularly in the past eight years under an unsympathetic presidential administration, has turned its back on the homeless.

It has created a culture of fear, loathing and contempt for the homeless throughout America, cutting federal funding and support and leaving the main responsibility to the states.

Fortunately here in Louisville, Sister Kathleen Sheehan did not allow that harsh mindset and those dwindling federal dollars dampen her mission to help every homeless man who makes his way to the St. John Center.

We’re going to miss Sister Kathleen and her indefatigable spirit, tough talk and bottomless compassion, but we will always appreciate her advocacy, and strive to emulate her accomplishments.
I’m going to leave you with one more thing Mother Teresa said.

“God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.”

And hasn’t Sister Kathleen shown us what we can do, if we all just try.

Best wishes to you Sister Kathleen and Godspeed.