By ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD
Special to The Record
As a musician, Passionist Sister Catherine Marie Schuhmann likens the expressions of the female Passionist vocation to “a symphony orchestra — all these different instruments, all contributing to the one, beautiful melody.”
From her role as mother superior of St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville, Ky.; to being summoned to serve as a temporary superior for the Passionist community in Lucca, Italy; to being elected the first mother president of the newly-erected Congregation of the Nuns of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the Kentucky native has witnessed this contemplative vocation “lived in a beautiful multiplicity of ways.”
She completed her six-year term as mother president this past spring, and at 82 years old, is finally back home at her beloved St. Joseph Monastery.
Before she called the monastery home, Sister Catherine Marie was a daughter of the church in Louisville. She attended the old Holy Name and St. John Vianney schools and Presentation Academy. She helped pay her tuition at Presentation by playing the organ at the now-closed St. Philip Neri Church on Woodbine Street. She has been a member of the Passionist community in the Diocese of Owensboro, Ky., for 64 years.
Sister Catherine Marie — as she is once again called — recently sat down with The Western Kentucky Catholic (newspaper of the Diocese of Owensboro) and shared about her many journeys, all of which flowed from her vow of obedience as a Passionist nun.
“I and my dear council members were united in our Passionist charism,” said Sister Catherine Marie of her time as mother president, which brought both blessings and challenges. “We all believed in what the Church was asking us to do.
“I always say, ‘This is not our work — this is God’s work,’ ” she said.
Questions and changes
The Holy See erected the Congregation of the Nuns of the Passion of Jesus Christ on June 29, 2018, which brought all female Passionist communities across the world into the one congregation, instead of remaining in autonomous isolation without shared resources or support.
This development had been set into motion four years prior, when a questionnaire from the Holy See was sent to the 3,000 women’s monasteries worldwide regarding issues like membership, vocations, and financial security.
“When the answers began to come in, there was a state of alarm throughout the Dicastery for Consecrated Life,” said Sister Catherine Marie, explaining that the survey recognized “the great decline of religious congregations and even risk of extinction among some.”
These struggles “had begun to take a toll on the physical and spiritual life of the communities,” she said. “In the face of that, the Holy See had to respond.”
For the Passionists in particular, the answer was to form them all into a monastic congregation.
Despite initial fears about ways this could impact their lives as cloistered contemplatives, “our community had the grace of God not to rebel — but to try to seek understanding,” said Sister Catherine Marie.
This “yes” to God’s will would soon cause a ripple effect across Passionist women’s communities worldwide.
“I pray for good, solid vocations because without healthy, good vocations we cannot go on. I pray for an organic growth — because everything in nature grows slowly. If you force a rosebud open, you destroy the beauty of the rose.”
— Passionist Sister Catherine Marie Schuhmann
A new mother
When St. Joseph Monastery completed the 2014 questionnaire, it was noted that unlike many other Passionist monasteries, the Whitesville community was not only surviving but thriving.
This was largely credited to Sister Catherine Marie’s time as mother superior as she helped bring about a flourishing of vibrant new vocations.
In 2018, Sister Catherine Marie was summoned to Lucca, Italy, to step in as temporary mother superior of the local Passionist monastery, which was attached to the shrine of renowned Passionist St. Gemma Galgani. The historic Lucca monastery had been struggling with vocations and needed a mother figure to get back on its feet.
Then-Mother Catherine Marie was just getting settled into this temporary responsibility in Lucca when the newly-erected congregation held its first General Chapter in early 2019. This gathering included the necessary election of a mother president and four consultors.
“And that’s when the second-oldest person present – me! – was elected, which was mind-boggling,” said Sister Catherine Marie. “But the grace was there!”
As mother president, her purpose was to “encourage and monitor each monastery as they, on their own, try to incarnate the Passionist charism in their culture,” she said.
Another significant responsibility of this role was to make canonical visitations to the Passionist nuns around the world, accompanied by one or two council members, as the congregation continued to discern ways to assist and revitalize their communities amid today’s challenges.
In her first circular letter to Passionist nuns worldwide, the new mother president “begged everyone to pray for a new Pentecost. I know it’s going to happen,” she said.
Heart to heart
Currently, there are more than 240 Passionist nuns residing across 14 nations. Sister Catherine Marie, 75 years old at the time and undergoing several major surgeries over the next few years, nonetheless set out to meet with these communities under her care.
One of the more difficult aspects of the mother president’s role is to make visitations to communities experiencing “diminishment” due to aging, physical ailments, and a lack of vocations, all of which negatively impact their ability to sustain themselves.
“Our Lady has always intervened to solve what we could not solve,” said Sister Catherine Marie.
Sister Catherine Marie was present for the powerful witness of the women’s Passionist community in Genoa, Italy, which chose through prayer and discernment to ultimately join the community of Lucca Passionists.
“This heroic community left their beautiful seaside home in Genoa to integrate with the sisters in Lucca,” said Sister Catherine Marie. “Everyone was praying their way through, asking ‘what does God want?’ Now, they are truly one.”
She said that anywhere she and her council members went, “we were welcomed as family,” encountering “a beautiful expression of the Church – and the people living at the heart of the Church in contemplative life.”
Even when she could not speak the native language in the various countries she visited, Sister Catherine Marie described the experience of communicating “cor ad cor” — Latin for “heart to heart” through their “life-giving, love-giving” shared Passionist charism.
There was “such a beauty in each culture that I truly cherished and love,” she said. “I was able to form some real friendships.”
Solidarity and respect
Sister Catherine Marie said that amid these changes for the Passionists, some laypeople have asked her, “Is the pope trying to destroy traditional monasteries?” by forming this new monastic congregation.
“Quite the opposite,” she said. “In all of my dealings with the Holy See, they trusted me, my advisors and councilors: They stood behind us. We did not feel abandoned.”
Instead of the Holy See ignoring the warning signs of many struggling Passionist communities, Sister Catherine Marie said it responded above and beyond: “All my experiences with the Holy See were that they were there to help.”
“In 2014, we asked the Holy See if our sisters could have more authority in certain things that pertain to the local communities, as our men’s communities do,” she said.
And the Holy See said yes.
Today, “the Church is trusting the nuns through the principle of subsidiarity,” said Sister Catherine Marie, emphasizing “the trust placed that women can also do this.”
Because the Passionist nuns are more united, they can now share resources for formation, the training of novice directresses and bursars, and even have same-language support groups for their mothers superior.
Growing slowly
This past spring, the second General Chapter took place and the new mother president was elected: Mother Gertrude Poggio, an Italian Passionist who helped found the first Passionist monastery in Indonesia in the 1980s.
At this gathering, feelings were different as the nuns looked to the future with hope, instead of trepidation.
“Now, we care!” said Sister Catherine Marie. “And the young sisters are leading the way. They are catching the fire and taking it up.”
Mother Gertrude “kindly designated me as the first ‘grandmother’ of the monastic congregation,” said Sister Catherine Marie, who said she continues to hold all the Passionist nuns in her heart.
“I pray for good, solid vocations because without healthy, good vocations we cannot go on,” she said. “I pray for an organic growth — because everything in nature grows slowly. If you force a rosebud open, you destroy the beauty of the rose.”
Speaking from her home in Whitesville, Sister Catherine Marie is encouraged by the “spirit of solidarity and respect” she found among her Passionist Sisters across the world.
“The congregation is in good hands,” she said.
Originally printed in the October 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic and reprinted with permission.
