Sister Nuala McGinley
Sister Nuala McGinley1931 – 2021
Born: 17th September 1931
Entered Religious Life: 3rd October 1949
Died: 11th April 2021
Reflection given by Sr Mary Teresa Clarke at Sr Nuala’s Funeral Mass
We have come together, to give thanks to God for the life and ministry of Sr Nuala. On behalf of Sr Jackie Doherty, the Local Leader, and the Community, here, at St Joseph’s. I welcome you, to our Mass here today, celebrated by Fr David Evans, our Parish Priest, We are also very happy to welcome Sr Patricia Lenihan, our Congregational Leader who is present with us today.
In a special way, we welcome Sr Nuala’s family who will be joining us from many parts of the world, but it is with some sadness, that our little gathering here, in St Joseph’s Convent Chapel, does not reflect, the many friends and family members, who would have liked to be present here today.
We welcome too, all or sisters, joining us from the Province, from Ireland and Zambia. We gather here, to remember and give thanks for the life and ministry of Nuala, who was a dedicated Teacher all her life. This was for Nuala, a vocation within her Vocation, as a Religious Sister of Charity; she gave generously and freely of herself, as an Educator all her life.
Nuala was born, to parents, Mary and William McGinley, in 1931, Dublin. Family was always very important to Nuala and she kept them close to her heart in prayer and shared in all their joys and heartaches over the years.
Nuala is the last of her family – and so today, we remember in a special way:
Her Sisters: Thelma, Pauline, Maura, and Una.
And her Brothers: Hugh and Joseph.
Nuala went to King’s Inn St, School. Later joining the Civil Service, before entering, Mount St Anne’s, at the age of 18. Nuala was one of 14 women, who entered that year on Monday 3rd October 1949, later receiving the name of Sr Rita Philomena.
Sr Nuala’s journey through life took her initially to Clonmel, then across the Irish Sea to Birkenhead and on to Sowerby Bridge, In 1958, after qualifying, as a Teacher, Nuala began her long teaching career in Birmingham, before being missioned to Chikuni, Zambia. The journey continued, taking Sister, back to Bristol for 13 years and on to Chester until in 1994, having spent over 36 years in Education, Sr Nuala began to retire! Her own Professional Development, was very important, and so over the years, Sister, added, a Master’s Degree in Languages, and a Bachelor’s Degree (Hons) in European History. After retirement, Nuala enjoyed, some Sabbatical time, firstly, in the Holy Land, studying and teaching, at the Biblical Foundation in Jerusalem and later in California. In her retirement, Nuala, found time to pursue her own particular passion, which was a great love of Music continuing her study of the Flute, Key Board, Guitar, and music composition. Nuala enjoyed teaching the flute and indeed, she shared generously her knowledge of Music, with the children in St Dominic’s School, Hackney. Despite a busy schedule in retirement! Nuala also found time to be involved, in three different Choirs; among them were, The Church of the Assumption, Bethnal Green, and St Joseph’s Hospice Choir. Sr Nuala also kept a keen eye on politics and the various social issues of the day. But one great joy, for Nuala, of living in London, was the opportunity to attend concerts and fellow music lovers, recall the happiness of attending wonderful, concerts together, in the Royal Festival Hall. But, Sr Nuala never really retired; continuing to volunteer as a Bereavement Counsellor and finally learning how operate the new Hospice Switchboard! In more recent years, Nuala was often found in very peaceful contemplation in the Chapel, surprising the unwary in the dim evening light!
Sr Nuala always sought to see the potential in a child and nothing gave her greater happiness than to see someone succeed in life. During her life, Nuala greatly valued knowledge and wisdom and a verse from the Book of Wisdom, her own choice of readings for today’s Mass, echoes that thought:
I learned without guile, and I impart without grudging;
I did not hide her wealth, for it is, an unfailing treasure, for mortals:
Those who get it, obtain friendship with God,
Commended for the gifts, that, come, from instruction. – Wisdom, 7:14
To all the Sisters and care staff, here at St Joseph’s, you have been part of Nuala’s life over these last years, thank you, for the love and companionship you gave her.
May she now rest in the Peace Amen.
We are standing this morning on holy ground: the place where Mary Aikenhead spent the last years of her life as an invalid – a woman whose vision, courage and practical common-sense gave birth to our Congregation and to our long and graced history of service of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable.Today we are celebrating the life of Sr. Joseph Helen, a woman who cherished that charism, serving those in need with fidelity and generosity, and who also spent the last years of her life here in the Hospice.
The readings this morning are both comforting and challenging.In the Gospel Jesus speaks of himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life.He invites us to put our hope and our trust in Him and in His promise to be with us, steadily and constantly as we try each day to walk his way, to speak his truth, to live his life.It is an apt description of the life and commitment of the woman whom we are remembering here.
In her 103 years of life, Sr. Joseph Helen lived through historical and global changes that are impossible for us to imagine.She experienced seismic shifts in Church and state.She witnessed wars and famines on a world scale.Through all of those yearsshe remained steadfastly faithful to the constant core of who she was as an RSC.She was born Dorothy Cunningham in Ballacolla in Portlaoise on 1st July 1908. She was an only girl, with one brother, and was much loved by all.Her childhood and youth reflected the calm ordinariness of children’s lives at that time.Following her degree studies she spent some months caring for her mother who was ill and then secured a job teaching in Mountjoy St. School in Dublin.Her father was not impressed!His comment on hearing of that place was:“It doesn’t sound like much of a job but you like working for the poor and you’ve always been good at it”.She remained there until she entered the Sisters of Charity on 5th October 1931.
In the first reading we are told that God gives strength to the wearied; that those who hope in Yahweh will soar like eagles, run and no grow weary, walk and never tire.That was so true of J. Helen throughout her active life.She was missioned back to Mountjoy St. after her religious profession and taught there for 12 years.Following a year’s further study in Scotland, she went to teach in a Secondary Modern school inWalthamstow in England for a year.And then came the call to be one of our three founding Sisters of the Zambian Region, or Northern Rhodesia as it then was.
In 1948 they set sail, travelling for four weeks by boat – The Athlone Castle -rail, bus and lorry before arriving in Chisekesi Siding on a dark morning on 28th October 1948. Sr. Helen kept a diary of the journey which was printed for the 50th anniversary and which gives a fascinating insight into their journey and how they coped with, what was for them, such a strange and almost ‘alien’ environment.
One can only imagine the anticipation and anxiety, the challenge and the loneliness, the wonder and the doubts that marked that journey and her first months in Zambia.It was a place and people that she came to love and cherish.She committed herself to the education of girls and brought the gift of knowledge and freedom to countless women who still remember her with gratitude and appreciation.There are many past pupils with sad hearts in Zambia at the moment – their sadness at her passing tempered only by their gratitude that she is free from the debilities of her age.And that mourning is echoed this morning among our sisters there in the Region and here in this Chapel in the sisters who lived with her and shared her life for those 30 years.
Her first 15 years in Zambia were spent in the Teacher training college run by the Jesuits and began her work in promoting the education of girls – beginning with the setting up of a girls secondary boarding school in Roma in Lusaka.Nine years later she was appointed Regional Leader and on Independence day 1978she was conferred with the Order of Distinguished Service for 30 years of outstanding service to the people of Zambia in the fields of Education and Social work.
While she was a formidable woman in many ways, with high standards and expectations, her devotion to her religious life and her commitment to education was recognized and appreciated by all who knew her.She was a strict disciplinarian, spoke the truth without apology and demanded very high standards.At the same time her heart was compassionate and her generosity and hospitality were known and appreciated by all.
Like all of us, Helen has known suffering and joy, tears and laughter, pain and happiness, loneliness and friendship.And she had strong relationships with herfriends – too numerous to mention – but exemplified in the love and devotion of Sr. Mary Bernadette Collins and Catherine Fallon.Up to the end she valued and enjoyed her relationships with her nieces, nephews and other family members and followed their lives with interest, with love and with prayer.
In 1978 she was missioned to Ireland and worked on our Constitutions.Subsequently she was appointed as local leader to our community in Crumlin before her appointment to our Provincial Leadership team and consequent arrival here in Our Lady’s Mount in 1981.
Sr. J. Helen’s commitment to Mary Aikenhead’s charism was single-minded and she never compromised on that.The second reading confirms her attitude to life:nothing outweighs the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus. It is only through Him, with Him and in Him that we can find life and happiness and fulfilment.Rooted in that conviction, she endorsed and embraced anything that served the people for whom she cared in a better, more dignified or respectful way.
She suffered in her growing debility and weakness these last years and all of us – family, community, friends and colleagues – were saddened as we watched her suffering and her struggle to cope.In spite of the wonderful, caring staff who surrounded her and the sisters and friends who were her constant support,she had difficult and dispiriting days.Yet she never gave up .Her faith in Providence was the touchstone of her life.In the midst of all her pain and letting-go she was confident that he was with her, holding her, comforting her and in the end, calling her to himself.And when that call came, sheyielded her spirit to the Lord, peace-filled, calm and trusting – blest with a death that had no struggle, no pain, no fear.And perhaps I can end with some words of hers, written in the diary of which I spoke, on her arrival in Chikuni:“Now that we have reached our Promised Land we must thank God and Our Lady for our very pleasant and on the whole easy journey which we have had . . . . “Those words echo, not only the journey to Chikuni, but her life journey, now at its end as she moves, we believe, into the fullness of the Promised land of God’s life and love.
