Kate Kuenstler

Kate Kuenstler (1949-2019) was an American Roman Catholic sister and a canon lawyer. Her legal defense of the canonical rights of lay people changed Vatican policy. Previously the Holy See automatically accepted U.S. bishops' decisions to close and sell vibrant churches.[1] After her intervention its policy became one that preserves those churches as worship sites instead.[2]

Sister
Kate Kuenstler
PHJC, JCD
Sr. Kate Kuenstler (l) receives the Trivison award from Sr. Christine Schenk, 2012
Personal
Born
Mary Kathleen Kuenstler

(1949-01-21)January 21, 1949
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedOctober 28, 2019(2019-10-28) (aged 70)
Donaldson, Indiana, U.S.
ReligionCatholic
Occupation
  • Canon lawyer

In 2012 she received the Rev. Louis J. Trivison Award from FutureChurch for her canonical advocacy.[3] Her work is chronicled in a 2017 documentary, "Foreclosing on Faith."[4]

In a 2017 interview for Commonweal, she noted that it is quite common for bishops to shut parishes that are financially solvent and merge them with a poorer parish that owes money to the diocese. The solvent parish is eventually sold allowing the newly merged congregation to pay off the debt owed to the diocese.[5] In the course of her career, Kuenstler assisted hundreds of parish communities in at least 48 dioceses.[6]

Kuenstler's canonical jurisprudence was subsequently validated by Vatican guidelines issued in April 2013, and again in July, 2020.[7][8][9][10]

Youth and entry into religious life

Mary Kathleen Kuenstler was born Jan. 21, 1949, in St. Louis City, Missouri, and was adopted by Lawrence John Kuenstler (1911-1983) and Lorraine Helen Buerster Kuenstler (1915-2003).[11] Inspired by the Catholic sisters who taught her in elementary and high school, Kuenstler joined the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, located in Donaldson, Indiana, in 1967. She professed vows in 1970.[12]

She received a bachelor's degree in education from St. Joseph's College in East Chicago, Indiana, and began her first ministry in education as an elementary teacher for almost 10 years at schools in Indiana and Minnesota. She earned a master's degree in religious education and ministered as a director of education and a diocesan consultant in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and in the Diocese of Belleville.

Becoming a canon lawyer

Asked by her community to pursue studies in canon law, Kuenstler earned a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 1992. She served several stints as a marriage tribunal judge before opening her own practice as an independent canon lawyer with a special focus on the rights of the laity. Kuenstler's practice covered many states and countries, including Canada and Australia.[13]

Defending parishes slated for closing

Kuenstler's defense of the canonical rights of the laity changed Vatican policy from automatically accepting U.S. bishops' decisions to close and sell active churches to one that preserves those churches as worship sites instead.[14][15] Kuenstler's work set precedent for other canon lawyers.[16] The 2017 documentary "Foreclosing on Faith" details her work with successful parishioner appeals in New York City and Cleveland, Ohio.[17][18][19][20] The documentary also features Kuenstler's analysis of Boston's 2004 attempt to close 83 parishes.[21] Soon thereafter more US bishops began to close parishes in order to pay bills for the clergy sex abuse scandal.[22]

Retirement

Following an unexpected illness, Kuenstler moved to Catherine's Cottage, established by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, in January 2019.[23] and then to the Catherine Kasper Home in Donaldson, Indiana, home of their motherhouse, in May 2019. She died there on October 28 of the same year.

References
  1. Miska, Rhonda (November 15, 2016). "Q & A with Sr. Kate Kuenstler, advising the laity when their parishes face closure". Global Sisters Report. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  2. Schenk, Christine (November 5, 2019). "In appreciation: Sr. Kate Kuenstler, canon lawyer for the people of God". Global Sisters Report. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  3. Kuenstler, Kate. "Sr. Kate Kuenstler Receiving FutureChurch 2012 Louis J. Trivison Award". FutureChurch. Vimeo. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  4. Collins, Charles (September 6, 2018). "Documentary looks at spiritual damage brought about by church closures". Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  5. Moses, Paul (June 6, 2017). "Can this Parish Be Saved? Solvent but Targeted for Closure". Commonweal Magazine.
  6. Grunlund, Maura (January 20, 2014). "Vatican appeals could keep Staten Island Roman Catholic churches open". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  7. Piacenza, Mauro Cardinal (2013). "Official Documents of the Holy See: Letter from the Congregation for the Clergy and Procedural Guidelines for the Modification of Parishes and the Closure, Relegation and Alienation of Churches". The Jurist: Studies in Church Law and Ministry. The Catholic University of America Press. 73 (1): 211–219.
  8. Sadowski, Dennis (February 22, 2013). "Canon law sets specific steps to follow before a parish can be closed". Catholic Philly. Catholic News Service. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  9. Beniamino, Stella Cardinal. "Instruction "The pastoral conversion of the Parish community in the service of the evangelising mission of the Church", of the Congregation for the Clergy". press.vatican.va. Holy See Press Office. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  10. Schenk, CSJ, Christine (April 18, 2020). "Let's use the title 'co-worker' for laypeople in parish leadership". National Catholic Reporter.
  11. Hoerner, Michael (November 24, 2019). "In Memoriam - Sister Mary Kathleen Kuenstler, PHJC". Catholic Times. Diocese of Springfield, Illinois. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  12. "Sister Mary Kathleen Kuenstler PHJC, JCD". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  13. Hoerner, Michael (November 24, 2019). "Sister Mary Kathleen Kuenstler, PHJC". Catholic Times. Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  14. Schenk, CSJ, Christine. "Sr. Kate Kuenstler—passionate advocate for the People of God—Presente!". Focus News. FutureChurch. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  15. "Sister Mary Kathleen Kuenstler PHJC, JCD". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  16. O'Malley, Michael (March 18, 2012). "Vatican reversal of Cleveland church closings getting national attention". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  17. West, Melanie Grayce (March 20, 2015). "Vatican to Review Order to Close Two New York City Parishes". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  18. Feuerherd, Peter (September 23, 2015). "Opponents challenge parish closings, mergers in NY archdiocese". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  19. Manson, Jamie (January 29, 2014). "Preparing for parish closures and mergers in New York City". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  20. Roewe, Brian (April 18, 2012). "Cleveland parishes meet reopening news with relief, skepticism". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  21. Guntzel, Jeff Severns (August 26, 2005). "Cover story -- Boston: Digging in to stay and pray". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  22. Somogyi, Viktoria; MacIntyre, Jeff. "Foreclosing on Faith Documentary – Church Closings Documentary".
  23. Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (May 4, 2023). "History of the PHJC in Donaldson, Pt. 5". Valpo.Life. Valparaiso, Indiana.
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