Sister Mary Alberta Bodde, SC

Sister Mary Alberta Bodde, SC, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, died Dec. 21, at the age of 96. Sister Mary Alberta was born on May 9, 1923, in Goodells, MI. She was raised on a poultry farm, the oldest of five children. She was a Sister of Charity for 74 years.

After high school, she received a scholarship to the College of Mount St. Joseph. She attended on a wartime accelerated program, graduating in three years. This allowed Sister Mary to get a teaching job in a one-room school near her home. She then entered the Sisters of Charity on Oct. 2, 1945. She felt she was born with a religious vocation, and it was the inspiring SC faculty at the Mount that sealed her original intention.

Sister Mary’s ministries span more than 65 years in education (secondary and college), pastoral ministry, campus ministry and congregational leadership.

Father Raymond C. Kammerer

Father Raymond C. Kammerer died on Jan. 4 in Waynesville, OH. He was born on June 15, 1938, in Cincinnati.

He did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. Father Kammerer also received a master’s degree in history from Xavier University, Cincinnati. He was ordained on May 30, 1964, at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati by Archbishop Karl J. Alter.

Father Kammerer received his first assignment on June 17, 1964, as assistant pro-tem at St. Leo Parish, Cincinnati. On August 25, 1964, he was appointed assistant at St. Peter Parish, Huber Heights, and to the faculty of Carroll High School. On June 9, 1971, he was appointed assistant chaplain and member of the teaching staff of Mount Saint Joseph College. On May 15, 1978, he was
appointed pastor of St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus Parish, Covington, OH. He was appointed pastor of Resurrection Parish, Cincinnati, on July 5, 1988. On July 6, 1995, Father Kammerer was appointed pastor of St. Augustine Parish, Waynesville. Father Kammerer remained Pastor of St. Augustine Parish until he retired from active ministry on June 30, 2017. During his years of ministry, he also served on the faculty of the now-closed St. Pius X Seminary, Erlanger, and Chatfield College, Cincinnati.

Sister Jean Masterson, CSJ

Sister Jean Masterson, CSJ, a Sister of the Congregation of St. Joseph for 58 years, died on Nov. 16. Sister Jean ministered as a teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Guardian Angels and St. Thomas More elementary schools, as well as teacher and administrator McNicholas High School. She served as the first female associate vocation director for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the founding executive director of the Jordan Center (health attention for the working uninsured), and pastoral associate for St. Anthony parish in Madisonville. Within the Congregation of St. Joseph, she served as vocation director and in multiple elected leadership roles.

Sister Marie Shields, SNDdeN

Sister Marie Shields, SNDdeN died Dec. 31 in Cincinnati, OH, at the age of 81. A native of Chicago, IL, she was in her 64th year of religious life. In 1958, Sister Marie began 14 years of teaching in parish schools in Ohio, most of them serving inner-city children. In 1968, with a master’s in religious studies, Sister Marie was missioned to Columbus, OH, beginning 51 years of service to the Church in Columbus. In 1972, Father Jim Smith, the pastor at St. Christopher Parish, invited Sister Marie and Father Richard Huelsman, SJ to form a pastoral team to administer the parish. Her role included visiting the sick, taking Communion to shut-ins, helping with adult education, serving as a resource to the religious education teachers and preparing the special children’s liturgy each week. The team approach was so effective that when Father Smith was transferred to Immaculate Conception Parish, and later St. Matthias Parish, Sister Marie and Father Huelsman went with him.