ATLANTA–Sister Mary Kateri, OP, (Cecelia Anne Pickering) died on Sept. 19 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home in Atlanta.  

She was born on January 23, 1942, in New York City to George Hudson and Marcella Hyatt Hudson. She is survived by her son Joseph Pickering, her sisters Maureen Hudson and Monica McCarthy, grandchildren, and nephews. She is predeceased by her son Michael. 

Sister Mary Kateri entered the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne on Oct. 1, 1988. She received the Dominican habit on Oct. 7, 1989, and made her final profession of vows on Sept. 14, 1995.  

Sister Mary Kateri, OP, is photographed with Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., during a visit to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home. Photo by Father Paul Burke

Sister served at Holy Family Home in Cleveland, Ohio from 1991-1995, Our Lady of Good Counsel Home in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1995-2000, Saint Rose’s Home in Manhattan from 2000 to 2008, with a two-year interruption working at Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York while St. Rose’s Home was under renovation. Assigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home in 2008, Sister continued to care for patients until 2019. Although physically not capable of nursing in recent years, she participated in activities with the patients and most importantly prayed for those whom she could no longer physically serve until the time of her death.  

A wake will be held on Tuesday Sept. 23, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home Chapel, 760 Pollard Blvd. SW, Atlanta, from 3:30 to 8 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 10:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home followed by an interment at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta.