LEXINGTON — Sister Katherine Francis French is celebrating 50 years as a Sister of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., this year.
A native of Trenton, N.J., she entered the congregation on Sept. 15, 1969, from St. Raphael Parish in Trenton. She professed perpetual vows on Sept. 27, 1975.
Sister Katherine Francis graduated from Immaculata College for Women in Washington, D.C., with an associate’s degree in 1968, and from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1971. She also earned a master’s degree in Religious Education from St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University in Rome, as well as her LPN from Vinal Regional Vocational Tech in Middletown, Conn.
Sister Katherine Francis lives in Lexington, where she has ministered since 2006. She ministered as a Geriatric LPN at Alston Brook Health Care from 2006 to 2010, as well as a pastoral associate and director of faith formation at Our Lady of the Rosary Church from 2006 to 2017, during her time in Lexington. Currently, she ministers as a freelance adult faith formation educator in the Diocese of Charlotte.
Sister Katherine Francis has also ministered in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut and Indiana.
The Sisters of Providence, a congregation of nearly 300 women religious, with more than 200 Providence Associates, collaborate with others to create a more just and hope-filled world through prayer, education, service and advocacy.
The Sisters of Providence have their motherhouse at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, located just northwest of downtown Terre Haute, Ind., which is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Saint Mother Theodore Guerin founded the Sisters of Providence at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 1840. Today, Sisters of Providence minister in 17 states, the District of Columbia and Asia, through works of love, mercy and justice.
More information about the Sisters of Providence and their ministries may be found at www.sistersofprovidence.org.
— Jason Moon, Sisters of Providence