Cathy Beckley

May 25, 1947 - November 11, 2025

Sister Cathy Beckley, SNJM, 78, died on November 21 in Lake Oswego. A Mass of Resurrection will be held January 15, 2026 in the Chapel of the Holy Names in Lake Oswego.

Oldest daughter of Robert and Mary (Schlecht) Beckley, Cathy was born in Minneapolis, Minn. Because of her Dad's job, the family moved to North Dakota, California, and eventually Corvallis, Ore.

After graduating from Oregon State, Cathy taught PE and coached in Portland public high schools. She met Holy Names Sisters at St. Francis Parish and asked to live with them for a year before entering in 1972.  From the beginning, Cathy worked to bring compassion and encouragement to those she encountered; first as a secondary teacher, counselor, and coach at Sacred Heart Academy, Salem.

After completing an MSW at University of Washington, Cathy went to St. Mary's Academy, Portland, as Dean of Students. An opportunity as a therapist arose at St. Joseph Family Center, Spokane, where she worked for five years. Responding to a call to work with women on the street, she founded the Women's Drop-in Center in Spokane.

Cathy later went on to Gonzaga University completing an M.Div., which she used for the last 20 years as a retreat and spiritual director while also serving as SNJM Vocation Director.

A Holy Names Sister for 51 years, Cathy is survived by her siblings, Sue Beckley, Michael Beckley, Thomas Beckley, Patricia Paukert; her nieces and nephews, and members of her religious community. Remembrances may be made to Sisters of the Holy Names, PO Box 398, Marylhurst, OR 97036 or online at www.snjmusontario.org/donate.

Published by The Oregonian from Dec. 2 to Dec. 7, 2025.

-----------------

Cathy was interviewed for about 20 minutes on the Sisters of the Holy Names podcast posted on March 8, 2022.  Cathy talked about founding The Women's Drop-In Center in Spokane and Healing in Community.  The interview with Cathy begins at about minute 2 in the podcast.  

https://snjmusontario.org/2022/03/08/s2-e1-the-womens-drop-in-center-and-healing-in-community/ 

-----------------

The following article by Sandi Doughton appeared in the Seattle Times on August 12, 2012.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-marchers-show-support-for-activist-nuns/

Seattle marchers show support for activist nuns

Nearly 500 people turned out in support of the nuns' group recently rebuked by the Catholic Church for promoting "radical feminist themes" at odds with official doctrine.

Over the years, Patricia Patterson thought about joining protest marches in support of women’s rights or against war. But the cause that finally got her to take to the streets was nuns.

“It baffles me that a group of women who are among the … most compassionate are being, frankly, picked on by the Vatican,” Patterson said Sunday. She joined a throng of nearly 500 people who marched in support of the nuns’ group recently rebuked by the Catholic Church for promoting “radical feminist themes” at odds with official doctrine.

But Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain wasn’t home. He was in St. Louis for meetings with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group that includes about 80 percent of women’s religious orders in the United States.

The Vatican put Sartain in charge of revamping the Leadership Conference to bring its practices more in line with Catholic orthodoxy.

After a four-day conference that concluded Friday, the nuns agreed to talk with Sartain but said they would not “compromise the integrity” of their mission.

Sartain praised the nuns’ work and contributions in a statement issued Saturday. “They deserve our respect, our support, our thanks and our prayers,” he wrote. He said he is committed to working with the Leadership Council in “atmosphere of prayer and respectful dialogue.”

Sister Cathy Beckley, who was cheered as she dashed back and forth in her red baseball cap, said the Vatican’s attack was hurtful to women who have devoted their lives to caring for people on society’s fringes.

In a report issued in April, Catholic Church officials chided the nuns and sisters for resisting some church teachings, including those that prohibit birth control and same-sex relationships.

Beckley, a Seattle social worker and member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, said that when she worked on the streets with the poor and homeless, she never asked about their private lives.

Sunday’s turnout gave her hope that many Catholics agree with the sisters’ approach and value their service. “Clearly, a very significant segment of the church here in the U.S. and around the world is more progressive.”

Among their causes, the sisters of the Leadership Conference mounted a “Nuns on the Bus” tour this summer opposing cuts in federal spending for social and health services proposed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan — now running mate to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Catholic bishops also echoed those concerns.

Beyond politics, the split between the sisters and the Vatican reflects the struggle between Catholics who want the church to adapt to modern realities — such as the fact that the vast majority of Catholic women in America use birth control — and those who seek a more traditional path, several marchers said.

Christy Higgins, of Seattle, was a youngster in Catholic school when the Vatican II changes were adopted in the 1960s. She recalls her teachers trading their habits for street clothes, and she embraced the more open and inclusive outlook.

“The church is all of us, not just the Vatican, the bishops and the cardinals,” Higgins said, her shirt pinned with more than a dozen “I Stand with the Sisters” buttons.

The slogan is also the name of the Seattle group that organized Sunday’s march. “We were so upset about how the church hierarchy is treating the sisters,” said Gretchen Gundrum, a co-founder.

It’s easy for ivory-tower leaders — all of whom are men — to discount the hard decisions people face in their day-to-day lives, Gundrum said. “The nuns see the complexity. Morality is not black-and-white, no matter what somebody says.”

The same tensions have always been present in the Catholic Church, Gundrum added. Church leaders denounced Galileo for claiming the Earth revolves around the sun. They finally admitted he was right — nearly 400 years later.

“Our group hopes to shorten the amount of time it takes for them to come around,” Gundrum said.

-----------------

The following article by Jim Lynch appeared in the Spokane Spokesman-Review on June 1, 1996.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1996/jun/01/womens-center-founder-departs-one-dream-fulfilled/

Women's Center Founder Departs One Dream Fulfilled, Sister Beckley Returns to School, Hopes One Day to Become Priest

A large, emotional family of women said farewell to their leader Friday.

Sister Cathy Beckley not only ran The Women’s DropIn Center for the past five years, the safe haven for women at 218 S. Howard was her dream.

As 50 center regulars listened, Beckley recounted the vision that convinced her to work with women. “I felt God calling me to do something new.”

Women ranging from their 20s to their 70s hugged the amiable, humorous nun and wished her success in her latest dream. She plans to return to school in hopes that some day the church will allow her to become a priest.

Her current followers testified to the healing power of the center and Beckley.

“When I first became acquainted with the center and all its dreams I had just gotten out of Eastern State Hospital,” said a woman named Jill. “I had pretty much lost everything. This place was the beginning of the steps I took up the ladder … We are full of grace down here. We really are.”

Wendy started crying when she spoke. “I was so afraid to get clean and sober because I thought I’d be all alone. Now look at this,” she said, gesturing to all her friends.

Another woman described leaving Spokane to get away from drugs and then returning to try to get her kids.  “I found this place and met Sister Cathy, then I had the courage to come back. I know she cared and that made all the difference in the world.”

Another woman summed up the center this way: “This is a safe place to be human.”

Beckley, 49, and the women sang songs, said prayers and hugged and cried in a room cluttered with messages and slogans. “Women continue to suffer for the sins of mankind. … The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.”

The loquacious nun filled the air with her center stories, her gratitude and her introduction of the new director, Sister Patty Beattie.

“My gift to you is that I’m leaving,” Beckley said, smiling. “That sounds so weird, but some newness will happen.”