Sister Catherine Margaret Carden, M.M.

Sister Catherine Margaret Carden, M.M., a catechetical trainer who was missioned to Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and Hawaii, died July 25 at Maryknoll Sisters Residential Care IV in Ossining. She was 93.

Her first assignment in 1946 was to Hawaii. Sister Catherine, then called by her religious name, Sister Marcus Marie, along with Maryknoll Sister Patrice Cadden, M.M., were asked to start the first Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program for the Diocese of Honolulu.

She worked to develop the program until 1950, when she was sent to Stockton, Calif., to train catechists and teach catechism.

She served as a missioner in Lima, Peru, where she did pastoral work and trained catechists, 1960-1964, and then served in Mexico, 1964-1966. In 1966, Sister Catherine went to Colombia.

In 1971, while on leave in the United States, Sister Catherine developed an English as a Second Language program for the school district in West Haverstraw. She taught there until 1988.

Following her retirement from teaching, she continued to minister to the people of West Haverstraw, volunteering at People to People, a local organization which helped the community’s homeless, hungry and needy. She officially retired in 2004, eventually residing at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining.

Born in Carbondale, Pa., she entered Maryknoll in 1939 and professed final vows in 1945.

She held a bachelor’s degree in education from Maryknoll Teachers College and a master’s in theology from Manhattan College.

A Funeral Mass was offered July 31 in the Annunciation Chapel at Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining. Burial followed in the sisters’ cemetery.