“She dedicated her life to the cause of the marginalised especially the homeless in her work for Focus Ireland.”

 

By John Scally

A heavy cloud of sadness fell over me when I heard the news that Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy had left us. One of the great blessings in my life was to have known her for 30 years and I mourn her loss. She was one of the first people I ever interviewed. I was surprised when I asked her what she would have done if she had not joined the Sisters of Charity.

“I am a Kerry woman and am very proud of that! If I hadn’t joined what I would have loved to have done is to spend my days on the beaches of Kerry gathering their beautiful shells. Then I would have used them to make jewelry and furniture fittings. I would have made hardly any money but I would have been happy!”
I wondered if she had a favourite place.

“Skellig Michael, in Kerry. It’s beyond words, a place of mesmerising solitude and contemplation.”

She often spoke to me about her keen interest in religious and spiritual matters.

“I am fascinated by Christianity and the figure of Christ. I constantly marvel at the fact that those who are followers of Christianity believe that even before we were born and long after we die, there is at work a provident, gracious God who has created us and loves us and wants us to share in God’s own life. This view shapes the Christian’s moral life by enabling them to live in faith, in hope and in love.

“Accordingly, Christianity issues us with an invitation into the heart of what it is to be human. I love the magic of the Christmas story for that very reason.”

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own