Sister Carolyn remembered for servant's heart

By The Catholic Week
MOBILE — Sister M. Carolyn Oberkirch, R.S.M., a Mobile native who served as administrator of the Convent of Mercy retirement home in Mobile for more than 25 years, died Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, at the Convent of Mercy.
Sister Carolyn was 74.
Along with serving at the Convent of Mercy, Sister Carolyn had also served as the liaison for Religious in the Archdiocese of Mobile.
Sister Carolyn attended Little Flower Catholic School and was a graduate of Convent of Mercy. She entered the Sisters of Mercy on Sept. 8, 1964, and professed her final vows on Aug. 15, 1971. She taught at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School in Baltimore and Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in Atlanta, where she continued on in pastoral care at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church and ministered to older adults, the homeless and the poor. She was the founder of the Interfaith Outreach Home for families in poverty in Atlanta.
Sister Carolyn arrived at the Convent of Mercy retirement home in 1995 and ministered there until her death.
“No request or concern was ever too big or too small and she nearly always found a way,” Sister Deborah Kennedy, R.S.M., said of Sister Carolyn in an article published in the Aug. 28, 2020, edition of “The Catholic Week.”
“For the past 25 years she has committed and devoted her life to serving her sisters in community — be it tending to their health needs or growing their fruits and vegetables! And hospitality is the hallmark of her ministry.”
Sister Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Fred Oberkirch and Betty Elizabeth Neil Oberkirch. Survivors include three brothers, Charles Fred (Lynn) Oberkirch Jr., Andrew Joseph (Pam) Oberkirch and Richard Scott Oberkirch; one sister, Becky Ellis; and numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives.
Mass of Christian burial was Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Mobile. Interment followed in the Catholic Cemetery of Mobile.