March 18, 2026

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

While she helped thousands of people in her 22-year tenure as director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, Sister Donna Franklin, a Daughter of Charity, focused on each individual as a beloved child of God.

Sister Donna died early in the day on Wednesday, March 11.

“Looking back at her time at Catholic Charities, it was under her leadership that they started outreach to migrant farmers,” said Gayle Frank, retired diocesan Family Life director and Youth director, who worked with Sister Donna regularly for two decades. “To my knowledge, she was the first one who started working on human trafficking awareness in the North Country. Wherever there were marginalized people, she was there. During the Ice Storm (of 1998), (Sister Donna) traveled all over the diocese with Bishop Loverde going to farms and going to businesses and making sure each person had everything he or she needed. That was lifegiving for her. It really got her out into the trenches.”

Sister Donna earned a bachelor’s degree in 1981 from Emmanuel College in Boston; a master’s in social work in 1988 from the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York; and a certificate in chemical dependency counseling in 1991 from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She was licensed clinical social worker in New York State, and she used those skills regularly in her role at Catholic Charities and in the service of others.

“Between youth ministry and family life ministry, it wasn’t uncommon to run into families experiencing problems – family conflict, divorce, separations and other problems,” Frank said. “If there was a problem I didn’t know how to handle, I could always go to (Sister Donna). I would regularly go to her for advice. She had all the degrees I didn’t have. I just had the sense to get qualified help. We were able to talk through a lot of the issues we’d see. And while she was always serious about her ministry, she also did it all with laughter and love.”

Frank said Sister Donna strongly believed in supporting the “domestic Church.”

“Her whole vision was to put family first and God will provide a way,” Frank said. “She would very, very kindly and passionately spread that to everyone she knew. In every incident that came up, to every person who came into the Catholic Charities office, she showed kindness and compassion. She was direct, and she spoke the truth without fear, but she did it with love and care.”

In addition to her work with Catholic Charities, Frank noted that Sister Donna was a regular instructor in the Formation for Ministry program and in the Deacon Formation program.

“(Sister Donna) worked a lot with the wives of the guys in deacon formation,” Frank said. “She’d tell us, ‘put family first. It’s your husband’s ministry, and you’re in it with him, but the sacrament comes first.’ She was wonderful! She taught us well. She listened to us – all the wives. She would bring in speakers who were real people with real issues. She wanted us all to know we could do this without being perfect first.”

Frank said Sister Donna was also a personal friend and helped her deal with her own family situations.

“We had lots of issues with our own kids,” Frank said. “Our son was a drug addict. (One son) had two divorces. (Another son) had one divorce. And I was the Family Life director. She was the only person I dared to tell for a while. We often discussed the fact that every family is dysfunctional, even ours. And (Sister Donna) always listened and offered love and wisdom.”

Frank and Sister Donna often traveled together as they went to conduct workshops or classes.

“It was always an adventure with (Sister Donna),” Frank said. “It really was. We always had a great time and laughed a lot. She was a wonderful woman of God.”

Sister Donna was honored upon her retirement with the Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice (Cross for the Church and the Pontiff.) The award, conferred for distinguished service to the church, is the highest medal that can be awarded to the laity by the pope.

In 2011, she was honored with the New York State Catholic Conference Council of Catholic Charities Directors’ annual Bishop Mugavero Award. The award recognizes individuals in New York State who have made significant contributions in charity and social justice.

Before she was assigned to the Diocese of Ogdensburg, Sister Donna worked as a parish social worker in Philadelphia, a caseworkersocial work supervisor for Child Day Treatment Center, Bronx; and a director of group homes for children in Albany and in Boston among other social work positions in Philadelphia, New York and Kentucky.

A complete obituary was not available at NCC press time and will appear in a future edition.

Living in the light

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from a reflection Sister Donna Franklin, a Daughter of Charity, wrote in 2017, just a few months before retiring from her role as director of Catholic Charities for the diocese. It was published in the North Country Catholic on Nov. 8, 2017.

We all live in a circle of community. Every circle has a rim. In the shadow of the rim, on the margins of community dwell many invisible poor, migrant workers, immigrants, the working poor, retirees and other people who are disenfranchised.

Catholic Charities staff does not just make a place in the circle for our brothers and sisters. Catholic Charities staff knows that it is critical to go to the rim, to the margins with unclenched fists, open hearts and open minds and stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with those on the margins. The goal is to accompany them, lighting the path as they journey towards full participation in the circle of community.

Catholic Charities’ mission rests on three pillars: responding to people in need; empowering people to build bridges to healthier lives and inviting people to join us in the works of charity and justice.

Tonight I offer you an invitation:
• When our moral values and principles are being relegated to the back of the bus behind racism, sexism and classism and other ism’s, can we see the light given to us by Rosa Parks? She had the dignity and self-worth to say, “I’m tired.” “No more.” Can we accept the challenge of living in the light?

• Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream and Robert Kennedy had a vision of our country as it could be. Do we have their Willingness to listen to our own prophetic inner voice and then risk not just speaking truth to power but using the power of our own truth as defined by the Gospel to challenge oppressive structures. Can we accept the challenge of living in the light?

• Alice Paul and the Suffragettes faced their fears and gathered up their courage to begin their protests on Washington fighting for the right for women to vote. They suffered imprisonment and torture but they never gave up when faced with the darkness of discrimination and violence. They knew where they stood and they stood there. Can we accept the challenge of living in the light?

• We have the honor and the privilege of sharing history with a great leader, Pope Francis. The light of his wisdom compels us to reject uniformed, unintelligent and dangerous nativism. He invites us to acknowledge our role as not just global citizens but as integral embers of the human community. He also invites us to care for God’s creation which he calls our “common home.” Can we accept the challenge of living in the light?