Sr. Catherine Blahut, OSF Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Sr. Catherine Blahut, OSF Age 92, on July 24, 2022. Sr. Catherine Blahut was born in Pittsburgh's South Side in 1929-the height of the Great Depression. She grew up in a community of families-mostly immigrants from all over Europe-who found work in the mills and factories that dotted the banks of the Monongahela River. At St. Casimir's High School, she encountered the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God. For nearly a decade she cared for ailing family members and then she entered the congregation in 1959. After final vows in 1966, she engaged in a mosaic of ministries for the next fifty years. Her teaching service took her from Pittsburgh to Kearney, New Jersey and Mt. Vernon, Illinois. She asked to switch to nursing and joined the Good Samaritan sisters at Mt. Vernon. Back in Pittsburgh, she spent two decades as a psychiatric nurse in the Western Psychiatric Institute, Mercy Hospital, the Allegheny County Jail and the Western Penitentiary. She then volunteered to spend a year in Assela, Ethiopia working with Mary Jane Klein at the mission of the Consolata Fathers. There she not only experienced the culture shock of third world poverty, she also endured the daily stress of living in politically dangerous situations. Upon her return to the USA she became the manager of the St. Francis Academy property; The Academy had been closed but the clearing of the building's furnishings became her full- time employment. Next, she helped transition the convent infirmary to a more formal organizational status. In the following decade she turned full circle back to her work as a business professional assisting the president of St. Bonaventure University, Fr. Richard Conboy, Chaplain of the Felician Sisters and finally the business office of the sisters. Along with a group of companions she transferred to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in 2009, offering service when she was able before succumbing to increasing frail health. Sr. Catherine is survived by nephew, Richard (Linda) Blahut; nieces Christine Beringer, Stacy, Amy and Judy Blahut and Terry Rogers; nephews Jonathan Beringer, Danny, Nick and John Rogers. She was predeceased by brother, John (Lillian) and Joseph (Helen), and nephew John (Wilma) and Suzy and Frank Hackels; parents Joseph and Katherine Blahut. Viewing will be held on Friday, July 29, 2022 at St. Aidan Parish, St. Alexis Church, 10090 Old Perry Hwy., Wexford, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Funeral Mass will be at 2:00 pm. Interment at Mt. Alvernia Cemetery to follow. Professional services trusted to D'Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory, LTD., Lawrenceville, www.dalessandroltd.com . In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, 225 Greenfield Parkway, Suite 208, Liverpool, NY 13088.

Sr. Catherine Blahut, OSF

November 5, 1929 - July 24, 2022