• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Catherine Phelps died unexpectedly June 15. She served as head of Trinity School for 47 years, twice leading it National Blue Ribbon recognition. (CR File)

Sister Catherine Phelps, longtime leader of Trinity School, dies

June 19, 2018
By Emily Rosenthal Alster
Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Obituaries, Schools

Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Catherine Phelps died unexpectedly June 15. A Baltimore native, she served as head of Trinity School in Ellicott City for 47 years, twice leading it National Blue Ribbon recognition.

Her exact age was unavailable.

“She had a Christ-like love for every child,” said Father Christopher Whatley, the pastor of St. Mark in Catonsville, who ministered at Trinity School during his early years as a priest.

Father Whatley said that if someone spent an hour or a day with Sister Catherine, the one takeaway was her devotion to the children in her school.

According to a 2011 profile in the Catholic Review, her legacy at Trinity School, was marked by the building of a new middle school; renovations of old buildings; the launch of the Julie Program, which works with K-fourth-grade students who have language-based learning issues; and the development of a new media center.

While directing a school that was recognized in both 1989 and 1999 by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Sister Catherine’s presence extended to playground, lunch and carpool duties.

“She didn’t want to spend time in her office,” said Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Shawn Marie Maguire, who knew Sister Catherine for more than 40 years. “She just absolutely loved children. She was just a wonderful, wonderful person.”

Sister Shawn Marie attended a four-hour meeting with Sister Catherine just three days before her passing. They taught together at Trinity School in the early 1970s, and since 2012 Sister Catherine had served on the Board of Trustees at Maryvale Preparatory School in Lutherville, which Sister Shawn led from 1981 to 2012.

Both Trinity School and Maryvale are sponsored by their order. In May, Sister Catherine was honored as Maryvale’s 2018 Alumna of the Year.

Born in Baltimore and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Sister Catherine was among the first girls to attend Maryvale Preparatory School in Lutherville when it opened in 1945.

During her time as a pupil of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, she felt called to the religious life. Upon graduation from Maryvale in 1949, she entered the order, and in 1952 professed her final vows.

Her first assignment took her to St. Martin School in Washington, D.C., where she taught for nine years as she earned a bachelor’s in education from what is now Trinity Washington University.

Sister Catherine returned to Maryvale to teach eighth grade, and then serve as the lower school principal. She then served as principal of St. Ursula School in Parkville before becoming principal of Trinity School in 1971.

“I love children,” Sister Catherine said in a 2005 interview with the Catholic Review that celebrated her 35th anniversary as head of Trinity School. “I’m driven because schools like this are as necessary today as they were 35 years ago. They’re needed not just for the strong academic program, but to impart values, nurture faith and impart a moral code.”

In the 2005 interview, she said that she always wanted to be a teacher and planned to remain at Trinity “as long as I have creative ideas and a lot of energy.”

According to a post on Trinity School’s Facebook page made by Gregory E. Jones, chair of the school’s Board of Trustees, Sister Catherine had recently not been feeling well. She was admitted June 15 to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where her condition rapidly worsened.

A viewing will be held at St. Mark Church in Catonsville June 20, 6-8 p.m., and June 21, 9-10:30 a.m., to be followed by an 11 a.m. funeral Mass.

Email Emily Rosenthal at erosenthal@CatholicReview.org

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Emily Rosenthal Alster

Emily Rosenthal Alster, a former staff writer for the Catholic Review, is a contributing writer. She is a lifelong resident of Maryland and a parishioner of St. John in Westminster.

Emily is a graduate of Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, Pa. She holds a bachelor's degree in business communication from Stevenson University.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Movie Review: ‘Padre Pio’
  • Assault outside Planned Parenthood office leaves pregnancy center employees shaken
  • ‘God’s Scribe’: Father Breighner retires popular column after more than 50 years
  • Farewell and thank you
  • Bishop Victor Galeone, former Archdiocese of Baltimore priest and bishop of St. Augustine, dies at 87

| Latest Local News |

Baltimore food support programs feel pinch after federal assistance benefits end

Oblate Sisters celebrate 10th anniversary of transfer of Mother Lange’s remains

RADIO INTERVIEW: The Vatican Code

| Latest World News |

Pope: Quick change of course necessary to beat climate change

Pope asks Catholics to welcome everyone, create communion

Act of reparation performed on altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope: Quick change of course necessary to beat climate change
  • Baltimore food support programs feel pinch after federal assistance benefits end
  • Oblate Sisters celebrate 10th anniversary of transfer of Mother Lange’s remains
  • Pope asks Catholics to welcome everyone, create communion
  • Act of reparation performed on altar of St. Peter’s Basilica
  • Pope prays for Indian train crash victims during Angelus
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: The Vatican Code
  • Ukrainian religious scholars provide advice to British experts collecting evidence of Russian crimes for trial in The Hague
  • Defending Henry VIII: Thomas More did it 500 years ago, against Martin Luther

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED