Schenck, Kathleen Margaret

• Sister Kathleen Schenck, SOS

Born 13 October 1892 in Grantham, Ontario, daughter of Louis Schenck and Winnifred Howe; entered 30 January 1923; first vows 2 August 1924; final vows 15 August 1931; died 24 March 1976.

One of eight children, Kathleen grew up in the Ontario Niagara area, where the Schenck family was prominent as fruit growers with large greenhouses and a canning factory. Two of her sisters entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, taking the religious names of Sister St. Louis and Sister Marcelline. After educated at local schools, Kathleen worked for Canadian Department Stores in St. Catharines as a window designer and advertising copywriter until she entered on January 30, 1923 at the age of 30. She was the sixth candidate to join the new community. A member of the first group of novices, she professed first vows on August 2, 1924 and final vows on August 15, 1931.

Due to her business experience, Sister Schenck was placed in charge as superior (1924-1931) of the first mission, an immigrant women’s hostel, next door to the Toronto Motherhouse, which the Catholic Women’s League had opened seven months earlier. The hostel/residence, the first of six that the community opened in the first 10 years, provided short-term accommodation, particularly for women seeking work as domestic servants under the Empire Settlement Act. At the Toronto house, Sister Schenck established a home-like atmosphere for these women, aged 18 to 32 years, and an employment service for placement in private homes, religious institutions, such as the Sisters of St. Joseph convents and institutions. For the opening of the Montreal hostel in October 1926, she assisted in setting up the house and in meeting the trains, carrying immigrants from the Quebec City port. Her duties increased when appointed as a member of the first administrative General Council (1928-1937), which oversaw the rapid development of the community.

Transferring the experience of immigrant needs in the city, Sister Schenck along with Sister Pauline Coates assisted in the establishment of Settlement House (1931-1933), the Redemptorist mission for German immigrants, adjacent to St. Patrick’s church in downtown Toronto. Sister Schenck provided the skills and human touch to create a neighbourhood house and a social and cultural centre for the growing number of German immigrants to the city after the First World War.

For the next 23 years, Sister Schenck’s continued in women’s residences. After resuming duties as superior in the Toronto residence (1933-1935), she was posted to Montreal (superior, 1935-1943), where a dispensation for an extension was received from the Toronto archbishop until the 1943 Chapter. During the two Montreal terms under her direction, the residence and the sisters activities grew. Just before her appointment, the sisters had purchased a large house on 1923 Dorchester Street West to also provide instruction in language and domestic skills. Opened in January 1935, the semi-detached residence had been built in 1894 and owned by railway magnate Lord Thomas Shaughnessy, the third president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). In 1940, the sisters purchased the other semi-detached house on the west side, previously-owned by Lord Strathcona, co-founder the CPR, who pounded the last spike to open the railway. As the community’s largest residence, it provided rooms for 80 residents and drop-in social activities for hundreds of young women in the city.

Besides the residence, the sisters continued immigration work, especially assisting the Sudeten refugees in 1939-1940 and immigrants during the Second World War. For girls, aged 6 to 17 years, the sisters started a club in 1940 to provide recreation at Goose Village, part of the Montréal Redemptorist parish of St. Ann’s. In leaving Montreal, she was stationed to the residence in Vancouver (superior, 1943-1949), where she also visited a local women's prison. Moving to assist at the Halifax residence (1949-1954) during the influx of immigration after the Second World War, she also directed the catechetical summer camps for Catholic girls from Halifax at Medford Beach (1950-1952). For a respite, she returned to the Motherhouse (1954-1956) and was reappointed to the Montreal residence (1956-1960) as the last residence assignment. Transferred to the catechetical mission at Fargo, North Dakota (1960-1962), Sister Schenck returned to Toronto Motherhouse (1962-1976) in semi-retirement, serving as a parish visitor (1962-1969) at nearby Our Lady of Lourdes parish.

Sister Schenck celebrated her golden jubilee of profession in August 1974. In declining health, she was hospitalized in early 1976 and was moved to Providence Villa, where she died on March 24, 1976 at the age of 83. She is buried at the community’s plot in Mount Hope cemetery, Toronto.

Created by F Rousselle, May 1, 2025.

Biographical sketch adapted for brevity from complete biography written by SOS congregational archivist MC Havey.