1934-2024
Born: 31st January 1934
Entered Religious Life: 9th November 1953
Died: 22nd December 2024
Delia McEnroe, the second eldest of six children, was born in Co. Cavan, on the 31st January 1934 to Bartley and Annie McEnroe, nee McKiernan. She entered the Religious Sisters of Charity in Milltown on the 9th November 1953 and was received as a Novice on the 18th May 1954, taking the name Sr. John Berchmans. On the 22nd May 1956, Sr. Delia made her first Profession.
Sr. Delia was a woman of prayer and deep faith. Often in her latter days, when one would visit her in Catherine McAuley Nursing Home she was found in the Chapel. She had a great devotion to Our Lady and was usually praying her rosary.
Delia had a devoted family who visited her frequently. Her nieces and nephews loved her deeply and have very happy memories of family visits. During her sister Eileen’s long illness her nephew, Martin, took her to visit Eileen which was a great consolation to her.
Throughout her life Delia had a great love for the poor and her great desire was to enable, support and help people. She was a woman after Mary Aikenhead’s own heart! During her long life of seventy-one years as a religious, she ministered in Donnybrook, Benada and Clarinbridge before being missioned to Zambia where she was to spend almost thirty years. On return from Zambia she was missioned to Walkinstown in 2009 where she remained until 2023 when the house was closing and she was missioned to Catherine McAuley House Nursing Home.
Her first ministry after profession was in the laundry in Donnybrook. Sr. Delia held a certificate in Children’s Nursing from Temple Hill when she entered and between 1958 and 1965 she took care of the small boys in Benada Abbey, near Tourlestrane in Co. Sligo. She loved this work and when the boys were transferred to Galway, at the age of seven, she used to visit them and bring goodies.
When the Nursery closed in Benada she attended the Grafton Academy in Dublin where she received a Certificate in Dress Designing. From small boys she moved to cottage industry. From then onwards she became involved in development work. While still in Benada she set up a small knitting industry in order to train some of the local people and provide them with a skill to earn an extra income. This consisted mainly of the knitting of school jumpers. From Benada she was moved to Clarinbridge in 1970, where she set up a similar type of small industry. She ventured out into Aran Sweaters and facilitated people knitting in their homes and finding a market in ‘the shop’ in Clarinbridge. The clientele was mostly American visitors who were attracted to native Irish goods. Delia would have made a great business woman!
Her time in Benada and Clarinbridge prepared her well for the next phase of her life. In 1979 she was missioned to Zambia and to the Nakambala community. Nakambala convent is situated in the middle of the Sugar Estate. Here she was involved in Development Work and a Youth Project. Her aim always was to try to better the lives of the local people. She particularly took a great interest in young people who had to drop out of school, providing them with skills training and on completion of their course they received the tools necessary, such as a sewing machine, tool kit or a knitting machine to work at home. Delia loved to visit the elderly and house-bound and they in turn loved to see her coming. Presumably she did not go empty-handed! She was local leader in Nakambala from 1984-1991.
She continued her development work and youth projects in Namwala from 1991-1992. This was a very rural area and at that time had a very poor road structure, which made travel particularly difficult. After her year in Namwala she returned to Ireland and was granted sabbatical time.
Returning to Zambia in 1993 she was missioned to Chikuni and until December 1997 she continued supporting and enabling skills training for those in need of empowerment. She moved back to Namwala in 1998 and there she spent ten years improving the living standards of old and young. She returned to Ireland in December 2008 and after a short break she was missioned to Walkinstown.
Walkinstown was to bring a change of ministry. While the pace of life slowed down for Delia, she always rose very early and found new outlets for her creativity. Continuing her development work, albeit at a more leisurely pace, she visited the Haven Centre in Basin Lane School to teach the parents of the children various forms of crafts. She also became the Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary. Here her spiritual guidance was greatly appreciated and some of her former legionaries, Mary and Michael, attended her funeral.
There she remained until early 2023 when the house in Walkinstown was closing and she was missioned to Catherine McAuley House Nursing Home in Beaumont. When Walkinstown community closed, Delia was transferred to the Rosemount Community in Donnybrook. While she never lived in Rosemount the community had the pleasure of celebrating with her two important milestones in her life – her Platinum Jubilee (70th Anniversary) and her 90th birthday. Delia was very happy and content in McAuley House Nursing Home. People visiting her were impressed with her tranquillity and her peaceful demeanour. Great credit and thanks are due to all the staff in Catherine McAuley House for making Delia’s last days so happy and for the good care they took of her. Delia took ill on Sunday 22nd December and was moved to Beaumont Hospital, where she died a few hours later. She was laid to rest in the community cemetery in Donnybrook on the 28th December 2024. May she rest in peace.
