BEVERLY — Sister Patricia Mahoney doesn't work in a school, nor does the Catholic nun live in a convent.
Instead, the 77-year-old who lives in a modest second-floor apartment in Beverly spends most of her time volunteering with the Morgan Park Police District's Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, or CAPS, office.
A native South Sider, Mahoney sat down with DNAinfo to discuss her ministry and her career as a community organizer. She said her roles with CAPS fit perfectly with her both her temperament and personality.
"My life has been very nontraditional," she said.
Mahoney became involved in CAPS in 1994, just a year after the effort to bring the community and Police Department together was launched. She was working then at her home parish of St. Leo in Auburn Gresham.
Police in the Gresham District first asked for the parish priest to participate in CAPS. When he declined, Mahoney stepped up, volunteering as a court watcher, sitting in the courtroom gallery as criminals who committed crimes in the neighborhood were called before the judge.
She felt drawn to the work, saying it spoke to the mission of the Sisters of Providence. Mahoney can recite her order's mission statement by heart, including the part about furthering "God’s loving plans by devoting itself to works of love, mercy and justice."
Mahoney believes she is doing just that by heading the court watchers group in Morgan Park. She also works on a religious subcommittee and leads the neighborhood's diversity and inclusion committee.
As the CAPS facilitator for Beats 2211 and 2213, Mahoney is known for saying, ""Crime is a community problem, not a police problem."
That said, she's well aware of the strained relationship between police departments in Chicago and nationwide, particularly with minority communities. Mahoney added that some police officers who've abused their authority "need to be in prison."
But she also said her "heart aches for some of these officers" as the job of policing has become increasingly dangerous and difficult. She said police and community activists protesting misconduct need to realize that ultimately they have similar goals.
"It becomes a case of who is going to bring them together," she said.
She believes that one solution might be renewed dedication to the CAPS program, as problems involving crime are often best dealt with on a block-by-block level. That said, she has also believes the commitment to the CAPS program has dwindled in recent years.
"If you are going to have [CAPS] work, you have to invest in the community," she said.
Mahoney grew up near 78th Street and Union Avenue in Auburn Gresham. She attended St. Leo Elementary School where the Sisters of Providence taught. She then went on to St. Francis Xavier Academy for Females in Bronzeville.
This high school was operated by the Sisters of Mercy and was the precursor to Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School. In fact, Mahoney said she remembers driving some of the nuns from her high school to check on construction of the new school in Mount Greenwood.
Mahoney said she felt God was calling her to religious life throughout high school. In fact, she ended up making a holy "bargain" of sorts when applying for a scholarship: If she received the scholarship, she'd see it as a sign to continue her schooling. If she did not, she'd become a nun.
The scholarship never came, but Mahoney ended up working for one year after of high school as an executive assistant at ComEd. She then entered the novitiate on Feb. 2, 1957 with the Sisters of Providence, studying for 4½ years at the order's St. Mary of the Woods outside of Terre Haute, Ind.
"When that call is there, you cannot not follow it," she said.
She took the name Sister Kevin Joseph — first as a nod to her Irish ancestry and second to honor of her favorite saint. Mahoney went back to using her baptismal name in 1967, and she forever stopped wearing the traditional habit a year later.
Mahoney became a teacher in 1961 in Texas but returned to the Midwest a year later as her sinuses didn't agree with the climate. She went on to teach elementary school for eight years, mostly to younger students as it was difficult to find teachers then.
In 1969, she left the classroom to become the associate director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine or CCD for the Catholic Diocese of Gary, Ind. From there, she bounced around setting up Catholic education programs throughout the Chicago area.
After getting involved with CAPS at St. Leo, Mahoney applied for grant to perform community organizing for two years through her order. This eventually led to a job with the Cook County State's Attorney's Community Justice Center.
Mahoney spent seven years working with neighborhood residents on behalf of Cook County. She formed groups meant help to those suffering from domestic violence as well as work with area businesses, seniors and religious groups to curb criminal behavior.
She "retired" from the county in 2000 but called her retirement "a big joke" because she continued doing much of the same work as a volunteer for the CAPS office in Morgan Park.
That said, she encourages young people to follow their hearts should if they feel they are being called to religious life. She pointed to herself as an example of the many ministries available to priests and nuns.
"I have chosen every ministry I have had since I went into the Gary diocese," Mahoney said. "There are all kinds of opportunities."
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