October 30, 2024
Sister Catherine Cassidy co-founded Americans for Immigrant Justice, (AI Justice) along with Sister Maureen Kelleher and Cheryl Little, and has spent a lifetime serving others. After graduating from the Lourdes Academy in Cleveland, Ohio, she decided like her teachers to become a nun, working to help make our world a better place. Her parents, who felt strongly about the importance of protecting people’s basic human rights and respecting their dignity, were also a major influence on her decision.
In the 1960’s and 70’s Sister Catherine worked with the African American community in Cleveland’s inner city. She treasures that time, believing the people she was helping did far more for her than she did for them, and teaching her “so much about life, faith and commitment”.
In the late 60’s, when many Catholic schools started closing their doors, she earned her Masters degree in theology at Notre Dame University, and remains a huge Notre Dame football fan. Then in the late 70’s, after being urged to take a career assessment test and scoring extremely well on legal matters, she accepted a full scholarship for law school with the goal of working for the poor. Sister Catherine got her law degree in 1985.
While furthering her studies, when “Baby Doc” Duvalier was President, Sister Catherine went to Haiti and fell in love with the Haitian people, whom she describes as “so family oriented, so giving, so deeply spiritual”. She was an international observer during the presidential election that brought Aristide to power.
Sister Catherine’s love of Haitians brought her to Florida, where she began working at Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS) in Ft. Pierce. When AI Justice, formerly Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, opened its doors in January 1996, Sister Catherine headed its Ft. Pierce office, helping countless farmworkers and other immigrants who couldn’t afford an attorney.
Sister Catherine is now retired and will be celebrating her 89th birthday this month. We wish her a wonderful birthday, and congratulate her on her 70 years of outstanding work with the Sisters of Humility of Mary. The sisters have been longtime supporters of AI Justice, through both their work and generous donations, often helping us with funding when we needed it most. Sister Catherine recently said that her “thoughts and passion continues to be on immigrant communities and with AI Justice and all that it represents.” There would be no AI Justice without her.