Sr. Cathy Kamphaus feted at retirement party
SALT LAKE CITY – Holy Cross Sr. Catherine Kamphaus, associate superintendent and former superintendent of Utah Catholic Schools, plans to retire next month after 54 years in Catholic education. In retirement, she will serve as director of Parish Life at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Salt Lake City.
On June 22, the Diocese of Salt Lake City honored Sr. Cathy at a special luncheon at the Pastoral Center. In a presentation at the luncheon, Utah Catholic Schools Superintendent Mark Longe compared Sr. Cathy to a gardener.
“I personally want to thank you, Sister, for your guidance and direction in my career over the years,” said Longe, who previously served as a principal under Sr. Cathy, who was then the schools superintendent.
Longe presented Sr. Cathy with a variety of symbolic and practical gardening gifts that represented her many contributions in her career in Utah Catholic Schools.
“As you enter a new chapter in your life of ministry to the Church, I know that you will still water your garden, pull some weeds and, at the end of the day, you will watch your garden grow, knowing with pride that you worked extremely hard to cultivate the natural beauty of the world and God’s children,” he concluded.
After the presentation, Bishop Oscar A. Solis jokingly encouraged Sr. Cathy to garden at his residence. Msgr. Colin Bircumshaw, vicar general, then presented Sr. Cathy with several gifts.
Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus, also paid tribute to Sr. Cathy at the luncheon. “When I think of the good and faithful servant, I think of Sr. Cathy,” he said. “There is no one who is more committed, more professional. … Cathy and I go way back also. When I was principal of Judge [Memorial Catholic High School], she was principal of [Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School] in the collaboration process. If anyone has been committed to the diocese, Sr. Cathy, it’s you. You have been so faithful. You’re from Idaho, but you’re really from heaven.”
At the luncheon, Kay McMahon, former principal of Kearns-St. Ann School, who has worked in the diocesan schools office for the past five years, was honored as well; she, too, is retiring.
Bishop Oscar thanked both women for their “tremendous ministry in the Diocese of Salt Lake City,” he said, noting that they “represent the various gifts that are a very important component in the life of our Church. You can see clearly in the lives and the faces of all who work here the tremendous qualities of a true missionary disciple of Jesus Christ. When I came here, I felt at home because I found people who are lovely and lively. It’s a wonderful community of fellow disciples and ministers in the Church, who are a source of joy and inspiration for many of us, especially for a newcomer like me.”
He praised the women for their loyalty, love and commitment to God, the Church and the diocese.
“Those things are a wonderful legacy that will only inspire us who are left behind to still labor,” he said. “I hope that all that you did for these long years of conscientious, industrious and well-intended life and ministry in the Church will be a beautiful legacy to all of us, to not only be a source of inspiration but a source of joy, a source that some day, like you, we will have the same legacy that you are leaving behind in this wonderful building among our fellow ministers.”
After the presentations, Sr. Cathy expressed her thanks. “I just look around and see all the wonderful people here that keep our diocese together,” she said. “And all the clergy that are here, you are a blessing to this diocese, and I just really appreciate all of you.”
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