(1939-2023)

Pat was a highly respected, competent, deeply committed administrator. She was recognized for this ministry by Barry University in 2003 when she received the Adrian Dominican Leadership Award on behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters who worked in diocesan central educational offices. But she was as deeply committed to her vocation as an Adrian Dominican Sister. In her annals she often shared her choice to live simply and her mindfulness of the challenge of balancing ministry with 
community life.

Sister Rosemary Asaro, Holy Rosary Mission Chapter Assistant, in this eulogy was describing Sister Patricia Downey, whose ministries had included thirty-seven years in educational administrative positions in Michigan and especially Illinois.

Patricia Jeannette Downey entered the world in Chicago on January 18, 1939, born three months prematurely to Edmund and Jeannette (Sunderland) Downey. In her life story, she attributed her early arrival to being “[e]ager to join my mom, dad, and older sister.”

She ended up being the middle of three children, between Mary Catherine and Edmund, born two years after Pat.

Read more about Sister Pat (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

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