Sr. Kathy Sommerville, O.P. of the Sisters of St. Dominic
Paraphrased from article by Bob Hogan in the Port Washington News, November 23, 2006
Sister Kathy came to Our Lady in 1981. She was born in Bay Ridge. When she was five years old, her family moved to Corpus Christi Parish in Mineola . Sister Kathy attended Dominican Commercial High School in Jamaica , completing secretarial studies. She worked as a secretary for the American Cancer Society and a Pharmaceutical company before joining the Sisters of St. Dominic in Amityville.
Her first position as a Dominican Nun was teaching seventh and eight grade students at Presentation Grammar School in Jamaica that came from broken homes. This is where she found her calling to minister to outreach programs.
Sister Kathy completed her undergraduate work at Queens College , continuing with her master's in social work at Adelphi Collage. Additionally, she has received further training in pastoral counseling from Post Graduate Center for Mental Health.
These skills have been utilized to the fullest to help hundreds of families over the years at Our Lady of Fatima and the Parish Outreach office where Sister Kathy is the Parish Social Ministry Director. She has worked with many other town groups and other religious denominations to help people and families in need. Sister Kathy has an ongoing relationship with North Shore Hospital which is used to assist the uninsured to receive health care and flu shots. Some of the ongoing needs are financial help, such as utility or rent money, food baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as monthly food for the needy. Christmas gifts are gathered for families in need while some groups will adopt an entire family for Christmas. School supplies are also collected and given out. The need for help can be from transportation to doctor appointments, furniture, food, monetary, health and pregnancy. Parish Outreach office helps the needs of about 95 families.
