Sister Loretto Anne Madden wasn’t big or loud, but she was persistent and determined.
The Catholic nun, who worked as her church’s lobbyist in the state legislature for almost 20 years, never gave up on the issues she pushed: justice for women, families, the poor and immigrants.
And the nun, who died Sunday in Kentucky, managed to keep her Irish sense of humor through it all.
Madden, in recent years a resident of the Sisters of Loretto Motherhouse in Kentucky, suffered an embolism and died on the way to the hospital in Louisville.
“One of our sisters was driving behind the ambulance,” said Madden’s biological sister, Karen Madden, also a nun. “When the ambulance reached Heaven Hill, about a mile from the hospital, the driver turned off the siren and lights. She knew Loretto Anne was gone.”
A memorial will be scheduled in Denver, where she was born.
The late Denver Catholic Auxiliary Bishop George Evans told The Denver Post several years ago that Madden “is so far from a typical lobbyist.”
“She never wines or dines anybody,” he said. “But she does her homework. She’s simply ingenious at finding what needs doing and getting it done.
“She tries not to get bottled up with one or two issues and she keeps her humor.”
“She never waffled in order to get on anybody’s good side,” said Sister Mary Ann Cunningham, also a member of the Sisters of Loretto. “She knew who she was, and you knew who she was and what she believed.”
Madden loved politics, keeping up on local, national and world issues, reading lengthy reports and attending every legislative hearing that concerned the church.
“She was careful not to be critical or angry,” said Karen Madden, who also lives in Kentucky. “I’m sure she got frustrated sometimes with the pace of things, but who wouldn’t?”
Lobbyist Leo Boyles said Madden “in many ways was the conscience of the legislature.”
“She was never divisive, never polarizing,” Boyles said. “Both sides of the aisle had affection for her.”
Loretto Anne Madden was just as persistent in marching as she was in the legislature. She and her sisters, Karen Madden and Sister Theresa Madden, were regulars in protesting war, nuclear arms, violence, segregation and treatment of the disenfranchised.
Loretto Anne Madden was born Aug. 21, 1922, and earned her undergraduate degree at Loretto Heights (now Teikyo Loretto Heights University) in Denver and her doctorate in sociology at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
She taught for several years at Loretto Heights and in 1973 began working for the Colorado Catholic Conference, the Denver archdiocesan lobbying department.
In addition to her sister, she is survived by her brother, the Rev. Edward Madden of Boulder, a Catholic priest. She was preceded in death by her sister Theresa.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
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