Who was Catherine E. Morse?
St. Andrew’s began as a chartered mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago around 1880. A “new” stone church was built on Franklin St. in 1897. As a mission parish, St. Andrew’s was not fully self-supporting, and relied on part-time or supply clergy. Parish status was not gained until 1945, 65 years after its founding!
Catherine Elizabeth Dukat was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1826 and later followed her brother Arthur to America around 1870. Arthur was a successful businessman and purchased an 800-acre estate in the area that is now Avery Coonley school and portions of Denburn Woods and Gilbert Park. She later married Dr. Daniel Morse and became a member of the St. Andrew’s mission parish. Catherine, as she eventually became to be known as Kate, was a Charter Member of the St. Andrew’s Ladies Guild in late 1890’s. In those days the women of the church were the prime fundraisers. As such the Guild was instrumental in paying for many things for the Church, including part of the Rector's
salary. Money raised by the Guild was kept in a teacup in one of the lady’s China cabinets.
The all-male Vestry, as was the custom in those days, at one point demanded that the proceeds from the women’s fundraisers should be given to the Vestry to be accounted for.
The ladies politely and firmly refused. So, when the church was short of funds, the Vestry had to go hand-in-hand to the Women’s Guild and ask for money in order to pay the
Rector. Following Kate’s death in 1903, C. P. Anderson, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church the Diocese of Chicago, received a letter from Northern Trust Bank, as the
Trustees of the will of Catherine E Morse, the sum of $2000. As instructed, the earnings from this money were to be applied “towards the salary of the Minister-in-Charge of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Downers Grove”.
Kate’s gift of $2000 in 1907 is the equivalent of $80,000 in today’s dollars! Each year since 1907 St. Andrew’s has benefitted from her bequest and additionally her gift has now grown to nearly $300,000. Also, dividends from the Catherine Morse trust, totaling over
$9,000, were applied toward St. Andrew’s 2025 operating budget.
Earlier this year we spoke of Charles A. Young and the overwhelming benefit received by our church with his generosity in 1983. The story of Catherine E. Morse is equally astonishing in its support for the on-going mission of St. Andrew’s.
In the coming months the St. Andrew’s Endowment Committee will be sharing early thoughts with the parish to establish a Legacy Society to promote planned giving.
Undoubtedly, we have our first two Charter members, Catherine E. Morse and Charles A. Young! If you think one person can’t make a difference, remember these two individuals and their on-going support to our parish.
Our thanks to Carol and Glenn Spitler for their contributions to this story.