{"id":194160,"date":"2025-12-10T18:32:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/?p=194160"},"modified":"2026-02-02T17:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:31:25","slug":"graced-moment-kathleen-cordes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/graced-moment-kathleen-cordes\/","title":{"rendered":"Graced Moment: Kathleen Cordes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

In October 2024, the American Province launched Graced Moments<\/strong>, where every month, a Holy Child Sister shares a \u201cgrace-filled\u201d experience that has influenced her life. The project flows from the Society\u2019s mission \u201cto help others to believe that God lives and acts in them and in our world.”<\/span><\/p>\n

We thank Kathleen (Kathy) Cordes<\/b>,\u00a0a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 60 <\/span>years, for offering her “g<\/span>raced moment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Feel free to leave a comment for Sister Kathy at the bottom of this page. Thank you!<\/span><\/p>\n

Click the audio player to listen to Sister Kathy read her
\nreflection or see the text below. Enjoy!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Recollect those who have helped or inspired us.<\/em>
\nSometimes even a small act of kindness on someone\u2019s part<\/em>
\nmakes an essential difference for us.<\/em>
\n \u2013 Sharon Salzberg <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kathy Cordes, SHCJ, with Dan Algeo and Stephanie, at Holy Child School at Rosemont, 1986<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I believe that throughout life, the Lord blesses us with actions or words that change our lives \u2013 grace us.<\/p>\n

Stephanie, a former student from Holy Child at Rosemont, is now a mother of 3 boys. She told me that she took the name \u201cKathleen\u201d at Confirmation because I was someone she wanted to emulate \u2013 a role model for how to live God\u2019s plan.\u00a0 She shared, \u201cYou loved your students, you delighted in us as individuals and we felt seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kathy Cordes, SHCJ, with Landry and Ruth Dawley, SHCJ, Holy Child Center in Rosemont, October 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past October, Landry, a former student from St. Francis School in Bend, Oregon, learned that I was visiting Sister Ruth at Holy Child Center in Rosemont. Landry traveled 6 hours from Virginia with his wife and 3 children so that we could meet his family.\u00a0 Landry told us that he knew we cared about him and the students at St. Francis. He shared that he admired our commitment to education and thanked us for breathing new life into the school. He also admired our lifelong dedication to God, the church, and our community.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kathy Cordes, SHCJ, receiving flowers from Rosemary McCarthy, SHCJ, as a thank you to Sister Kathy for serving on the 2017-2023 Province Leadership Team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another person who \u201cgraced\u201d me was Rosemary McCarthy, known as Mother Mary Januarius or Mother Jan as we called her in high school.\u00a0 She taught me History and was a wonderful storyteller \u2013 she made history come alive and it was one of the reasons I majored in History in college.<\/p>\n

I really didn\u2019t know much about Rosemary until 50 years later when I was in leadership and traveled to Rosemont monthly.\u00a0 Rosemary told me all about herself, her family, and the students she taught.<\/p>\n

One day, Rosemary said to me: \u201cKathy, every night before I go to bed, I thank the Lord for my vocation to the Society.\u201d\u00a0 I said to myself:\u00a0 OMG! \u00a0Yes, I am grateful to the Lord for my vocation, but I don\u2019t say thank you to the Lord every day.\u00a0 My \u201cGraced Moment!\u201d<\/p>\n

So now every morning, I begin my prayer saying the old Baltimore Catechism definition of why God made me.\u00a0 I repeat it again saying God made me to know, love, and serve him today, joyfully with an attitude of gratitude for my many blessings.\u00a0 Thank you, Lord, for my 60 years as a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for Rosemary. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It is not presumption to have hope and joy
\nand confidence in God’s grace.”<\/span><\/p>\n

-Venerable Cornelia Connelly<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What in Sister Kathy’s graced moment resonated with you? Please share below. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2024, the American Province launched Graced Moments, where every month, a Holy Child Sister shares a \u201cgrace-filled\u201d experience that has influenced her life. The project flows from the Society\u2019s mission \u201cto help others to believe that God lives and acts in them and in our world.” We thank Kathleen (Kathy) Cordes,\u00a0a Sister of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":385,"featured_media":194167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/american\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}