On Sunday 9 October, Bishop Brendan Kelly, Bishop of Achonry, was
Principal Celebrant at a Mass of thanksgiving and farewell for the
Sisters of Saint Louis, whose long link with Kiltimagh has come to an
end.
In his homily, Bishop Kelly said, “I’m happy to be with you today for
this Mass of Thanksgiving for the immense, immeasurable and
irreplaceable contribution of the Sisters of St Louis to this parish and
its people over one hundred and nineteen years. Our theme can only be
thanksgiving, but it is tinged with a deep sense of sadness. The loss of
a praying community, consecrated to God and to the welfare of his
people, particularly the most needy, that loss to this parish and to the
entire diocese is a great one.
“The Gospel today is apt for the occasion. The leper who came back to
Jesus when he found himself cured ‘threw himself at the feet of Jesus
and thanked him’
“That is exactly what we are doing here today in this Mass,
metaphorically: throwing ourselves at the feet of Jesus and thanking him
for 119 years of the dedicated service and faithful presence of the
Sisters of St Louis in our midst, as parish and diocese. In doing so we
throw ourselves too at your feet, sisters, in deep gratitude to you and
all those St Louis Sisters who have served here all the way back to the
arrival here of the first six sisters on the 14th of September, 1897.”
Bishop Kelly said, “The person responsible for what a newspaper of
the day called ‘the home-bringing’ of the nuns to Kiltimagh was the
great Fr Denis O Hara. The paper goes on to report that the ‘good nuns
of St Louis’ arrived ‘amid the prayers and blessings of priests and
people’…referring to the crowd that had gathered at the station to greet
the sisters and accompany them to the new convent Fr Denis had had
built for them. Today, the prayers and blessings of priests and people
now accompany the final departure of the nuns, though these prayers and
blessings are accompanied now more with sadness than celebration.
“Today is October 9th, the feast of St Denis, when the girls in the
St Louis Secondary school always got a free day. Such was the respect in
which Fr Denis was always held and remembered by the sisters. I like to
think that it’s no mere coincidence that we happen to be giving thanks
to God for the sisters on this day. It is most surely the hand of
Providence giving us a sign. What is happening now in October 2016
regarding the sisters and this parish is all part of God’s providential
design. May we be able to discern truly its meaning for this parish and
for the sisters in this year of Our Lord, 2016. That calls for deep
faith and trust in the eternal wisdom and goodness of God towards us.
“Around the time Fr Denis came here in 1887 as PP, a newspaper of the
day described Kiltimagh as a ‘ruined hamlet of thatched hovels’. Fr
Denis immediately set about improving the lot of the people. Within two
years of his arrival, this magnificent Church was built and consecrated.
By the time he convinced the Sisters of St Louis in Monaghan to come
here in 1897 and provide education for girls, Fr Denis had been
instrumental in establishing six primary schools in the parish, bringing
the railway to Kiltimagh, in forcing landlords to lower rents. He was a
steadfast in his support of Michael Davitt and the Land League, for the
sake of the impoverished tenants.
“But no project was dearer to this good man’s heart than convincing
the St Louis sisters in Monaghan to come here. Fr Denis could see the
value of an education for the local women and girls as part of his great
dream of lifting the people here out of poverty, giving new hope and
creating new opportunities for them, thus enabling them to cope and
contribute confidently to building of family, community and society, be
that at home or as emigrants, for emigration was the destiny of many
from these parts.”
Bishop Kelly went on to say, “Fr Denis chose well. Over the
subsequent years, the sisters took charge first of the new girls primary
school, then established the Technical school for women and girls,
where practical skills – dressmaking, laundry, poultry-keeping and finer
arts like lace-making were taught. Within 4 weeks of its opening, 80
girls and women were enrolled. The sisters travelled all around the area
on foot encouraging and inviting the young ladies of the area to come.
Then St Philomena’s boarding school was established, and soon acquired a
reputation for excellence in education that was nation-wide. Later on
in the 30’s a highly successful commercial school was established. Along
with all of that the sisters were discreetly and always available to
help people in their need and poverty, in whatever way they could.
It’s an extraordinary story of extraordinary achievement that must not
be forgotten. It arouses a deep sense of admiration but most of all of
gratitude in any decent heart. Such stories need telling and remembering
in these days when a sense of unearned entitlement so often takes all
the space and the capacity for generosity, service, self-sacrifice is
not awakened and called forth in men and women. The question for us all
now is how can these qualities, so evident in the story of the sisters
of St Louis be enkindled and ignited in this generation? This is where a
new evangelisation, a new connecting with the greatest story of hope
ever lived, the story of Jesus, is called for. For it was out of faith
in Jesus, and joyful intimacy with his word and way that the story and
the contribution of the Sisters of St Louis in Kiltimagh was born and
sustained over so many decades.
“The changes that occurred from the 1960’s on – the government more
and more taking responsibility for education and social welfare, free
education, growing material prosperity, the opening up to the world that
came with television, cheaper transport etc., saw the sisters adjusting
– coeducation, decline in need for Boarding schools etc. Eventually the
amalgamation with Scoil Raftearaí took place and the St Louis Community
School was born. Vocations to the sisterhood declined and gradually the
sisters withdrew, quietly and without fanfare or fuss, as always
accepting the new and emerging reality as part of God’s mysterious
plan.”
Concluding his homily, Bishop Kelly said, “And so we come to this
day. This moment of Farewell. I’d like to quote what one of the sisters
has written: ‘The sisters have given much, but they received much too in
this community of Kiltimagh. It has been their home and a place of
friendships, kindnesses, support, being church together and part of a
community, especially in these latter years in Cordarragh. Many sisters
are buried here, both in the former convent cemetery and in Kilkenure in
the past 20 years.’ In other words, they are part forever of the story
of this parish and community and for that are deeply grateful.
“The story of the sisters here is one, like that of Fr Denis O Hara
who brought them here, of building and serving the great ideal and
command of Jesus: be community, not just individual. Build communion,
that most holy thing. Servants of unity…of what Jesus prayed for at the
very end: that they may all be one. The wisdom of God lives in lives
that are faithful to his word: that is how that unity, that communion,
is formed and grows. These were the values set in place by the founders
of the St Louis story in France one hundred years exactly – 1797- before
they came to Kiltimagh.
“As we look back today, sisters, over your presence here for 119
years, we see how faithfully you carried out and lived your founding
ideals. Our hearts are full of gratitude then at this Mass as we
remember, and we give God thanks for you. And as we pray his blessing on
each and every one of you. This community, this parish, this diocese
will not forget.
“The Samaritan leper came back, we are told today. Crying out the
praise of God, threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and thanked him. So
do we thank God and thank you as we now celebrate this Holy Eucharist.”