CLINTON – Sister Jane McCarthy, OSF, 89, passed away Jan. 20 at The Alverno.
Jane Ann McCarthy was born March 17, 1936, in Clinton, the eldest child of Daniel Noel and Colette (Hohenhorst) McCarthy. She attended St. Mary’s School and Mount St. Clare Academy in Clinton, graduating in 1953. She entered Sisters of St. Francis at Mount St. Clare Convent in Clinton later that year and received the name Sister M. Noel. Sister McCarthy made her first profession in 1956 and her final profession in 1959. She later resumed her baptismal name.
Sister McCarthy received a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Iowa-Iowa City and an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. She ministered as a teacher and administrator — mostly at the junior high and high school levels — at schools in Iowa, Illinois, California, Nebraska and Missouri. In Clinton, she taught at St. Patrick, Mater Dei and Mount St. Clare Academy & College. At the college, she also served as an academic dean and financial aid officer.
She served as a pastoral associate in Chicago and Maywood, Illinois. To be of service to the Hispanic community, she studied Spanish in the Archdiocese of Chicago and later completed several language immersion sessions at San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico. She ministered to Hispanic communities at St. James Parish-Washington, Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Parish-Clinton and St. James Parish-Maywood, Illinois.
Sister McCarthy served on the General Council of the Sisters of St. Francis for eight years and was the general secretary and canonical treasurer for four years. She retired from full-time ministry in 2014, but continued to be active as an advocate for immigrants and worked tirelessly in support of immigration reform.
Sister McCarthy was an avid reader and enjoyed birdwatching, sewing, listening to Native American flute music, and researching her family history. She volunteered at the Upper Mississippi Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Thomson, Illinois. She moved to The Alverno in 2022 and remained there until her death.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 28 at The Canticle in Clinton, with inurnment in St. Irenaeus Calvary Cemetery.
