ST PAUL’S POST St Paul’s Province Weekly Newsletter: 130 3 June 2019

Our birthday girls this

week are:

Lydwina Farrell 6 June

Miriam Cooney 9 June

Photo taken from: Le Cheile Update - Summer Edition 2019

Relatives/friends of Sisters:

Marguerita’s brother, Pat;

Anna Hainey’s brothers, Danny & Jim;

Eily May’s brothers, Tade & Jack, and her sister, Mary Philomena White;

Lorraine’s Mum, Mary;

Francis’ niece-in-law, Val McCartan;

Kathleen Doran’s niece-in-law, Kerry;

Mary Curtin’s niece, Breed;

Julie Thompson, the Briery Cook;

Alex Kelly, Cecilia Wilkinson’s nephew;

Cecilia Foley’s brother, Tony;

Francine’s brother-in-law, Bill Knowles, &

her sister, Rita;

Nicky Allan, Co-Manager of Elmleigh;

Michael Clyne, Brigid Murphy’s brother-in-law;

Michelle Reid, Rita McStay’s niece-in-law;

Elaine Plunkett, Keighley Associate;

Carmel Comerford’s sister, Clare;

Barbara Sexton’s brother, Denis, and his

wife, Breda, and Barbara’s sister-in-law,

Angela;

Maura, sister of Annette Kelly;

Mary McLean, Margaret Travers’ sister.

Our Sisters:

Cephas Wearden

Margaret Collins

Nora Horan

Regina Boland

Carmel Comerford

Mary Sloan

Maire Murphy

Marie Antonine

Agnes Marie Joy

Kathleen Kinane

Kathleen Shelly

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Damian’s brother, Brendan, now seriously ill;

Let us pray for Evelyn Wilson, who entered

eternal life on 3Oth May RIP. After a long

journey of ill health Evelyn went to the Lord

gently and peacefully on Ascension Day and we

believe that she is now enjoying the fullness of

Easter Joy, which will never end. We hold in

prayer Evelyn’s sister Charlotte, brother

Vernon, other family and friends who are

mourning for her.

We also pray for Annette Kelly’s niece, Elizabeth Slazenger, who passed away on 20th May RIP

and Edith Culliton’s brother, Louie Culliton, RIP, who has just passed away. May they too be enjoying the fullness of life in God’s loving presence. Let us keep their families and friends in our prayers at this difficult time.

Evelyn Wilson

I met Sr Cecilia in 1975 when I taught in St

Hugh’s in Liverpool and I got to know her pretty

well as she spent her lunch hour in the staff

room. She was always good humoured,

supportive, friendly and approachable and such

an example to us all. She worked very hard in

both St Hugh’s School and Parish. Her

weekends were spent visiting families and

supporting the parish priest, on occasion taking

Stations of the Cross for him on a Friday, which

was very unusual in the 1970s.

I heard about her family in Ballycastle,

especially in the period following her father’s

death, and learnt how she and her community

acquired new, much needed skills when they

looked after Sr Gertrude, an elderly sister in

need of much help.

She always took an interest in my family,

especially the grandchildren.

For Sr Cecilia, as with all sisters, a new career

beckoned on retirement and looking at her

many changes of address during those years it

was a very busy retirement indeed, only ceasing

when she was very unwell. She had lead a very

full and fulfilling life!

So it was with much sadness that I heard that

she had died. She will be greatly missed.

Louise Robertshaw

I would like to say how deeply saddened I was

to hear of the death of Sr Cecilia.

I have such happy memories of the time when

Sr Cecilia was in Liverpool and when she

became Head Teacher of the amalgamated

infant and junior school of St Hugh's.

I remember Cecilia's calm and gentle manner

and her lovely smile. She ensured that the

transition period of the two groups of staff

uniting and working together was as smooth

and as seamless as possible. Cecilia was always

ready to listen and help staff and she dealt

with queries and concerns very fairly.

Sr Cecilia was greatly respected and had many

friends in Liverpool and it has been lovely to

hear over the years of the other projects she

became involved with in different parts of the

country.

It was lovely to see Sr Cecilia when she came

back to the very sad closure of St Hugh's

Church. St Hugh's was always a close, caring

community and felt like a family where

everyone was valued.

Dorothy Dunn (nee Livesey)

Infant teacher at St Hugh 's—1974-1992

Breda Ahearn has forwarded us the following tributes to Sr Cecilia Wilkinson

written by her friends/colleagues.

The PLT were present for a meeting of Friends of Drumalis on Thursday evening. It was heartening to listen to people searching for a way of being community into the future.

Commemoration of the 120th

Anniversary of the Laying of the Foundation

Stone of the Convent of St Paul of the Cross, Bryson Street, St Matthew’s

Parish, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday, 13 June 2019:

THE STORY

PART FIVE: THE FINAL EPISODE

Copyright: Sister Dominic Savio (Hamer) CP

The Second World War

A new type of danger came to the streets of Belfast with the outbreak of the Second World War in

September 1939. On 4 July 1940 the Sisters were told that the children were to be ready for

evacuation. The schools were closed for lessons, as the Sisters helped worried parents to prepare

their children. On 7 July two of the Sisters from Bryson Street took a group of Catholic children to

Strabane. By August, however, they were back in St Matthew’s. In October 1940 the sirens

sounded twice during the night but no damage was done. April 1941, however, presented a

different story. On the night of 7 April the Sisters knelt in prayer as German aircraft flew over the

convent. The building shook and a bomb dropped in the garden. The night of 15 April was even

worse. From 10.45 pm the enemy planes were heard in great numbers. Soon the sky was a blaze

of fierce red. The Sisters started the Rosary. Before it was finished an explosion took place that

almost brought the convent down on top of them. The community prayed without ceasing until

the all-clear sounded at 5 am. They were convinced it was God alone who had saved their convent

and themselves. Another night of terror followed on 4 May, when from midnight hundreds of

German planes hovered over the city and especially over Ballymacarett. Again the Sisters had a

miraculous escape, as several high explosive bombs fell in the vicinity of the convent. The next

morning tales of disaster came from every part of Belfast. The convent had broken windows,

other minor damage and was without water, gas or electricity, but the Sisters were safe.

The Period after the Second World War

The twenty years after the war were years of expansion. On 28 May 1944 the Sisters of the Cross

and Passion made a foundation at Holywood. On 7 January 1959 St Monica’s Intermediate

School opened in St Matthew’s parish with 600 girls from six surrounding parishes. In August 1966

St Matthew’s Primary School was modernised for the first time since 1900. When, in 1968, one of

the Sisters was appointed Principal of the new St Teresa’s School, the Sisters also opened a

convent in Glen Road.

More troubles

From 1969, however, ‘The Troubles’ returned to the North and once again the Sisters were proud

to stay with the people. In August 1969 there was terrible unrest in the city, with rioting, Catholic

houses burnt down in the Falls and Ardoyne areas and the British Army called in to protect life and

property. The Sisters’ annual retreat in Bryson Street convent had to be cancelled. The following

year, 1970, St Matthew’s church was attacked on the night of 27 June. The Sisters were up all

night in their chapel reciting the Rosary non-stop. When the parishioners arrived for the Sunday

morning 7 am Mass they could not be allowed into the church because it was full of CS gas and so

all the Masses that Sunday and during the next few days were celebrated in the convent. It was a

special joy for all concerned when, on 27 December that year, the Sisters invited the old folks of

the parish to a party in the convent, with entertainment provided by the young people of the

parish. There was so much trouble in Ballymacarrett during 1971, however, that by 10 August the

Sisters were the only residents left in Bryson Street. They were surrounded by empty houses,

abandoned and left like so many shells.

The Sisters efforts to make Peace

From 1972 the Sisters did all they could to try to bring about peace and reconciliation. That year

two Sisters took a group of teenagers, both Catholic and Protestant, on a holiday to a Passionist

monastery in Wales. It was a brave venture that proved to be a successful experiment. In

December they started St Matthew’s Youth Club, beginning with a happy retreat at Benburb

Abbey. At the same time, a Sister and a secular teacher took a group of St Monica’s girls for a

retreat in the Passionist convent in Larne. The children and young people needed all the help they

could get, for their experiences in Belfast were horrific. Efforts were made in St Monica’s to help

both parents and pupils by putting on a concert and tea-party in December 1972, when the

parents were also invited to visit the classrooms to see displays of the pupils’ work. In February

1973, however, there was fierce fighting around the convent in Bryson Street. From then, for the

Sisters’ protection, a platoon of soldiers was stationed beside St Matthew’s church, schools and

convent.

From 1975 the violence around Bryson Street raged throughout the next few years. By 1978,

when young mothers in the parish were suffering from the strain, the Sisters were amongst those

who went to their help, whilst a Sister helped to organise a Retreat for the women of the parish at

the Passionist Retreat at Crossgar. The Sisters also participated in reconciliation groups.

On 8 March 1979 in the bitterly cold early hours of the morning the Sisters were awakened by loud

banging on the doors of St Paul’s Home. It was the security forces, saying there was a bomb alert

and the people must be evacuated from the neighbouring streets. The Sisters took them in,

housing them in St Paul’s Home, the convent itself, the parochial house and the parochial hall until

they could return to their homes in the late afternoon.

The Sisters were pleased and touched at the appreciation of St Matthew’s parishioners for their

presence and support, as expressed at the funeral of Sister Veronique on 2 December 1983. When

she died on 30 November she was 95 years of age and had been a Sister for 75 years, having spent

most of those years in Bryson Street. In his homily at her Requiem, the future Cardinal Daly said

she had been the oldest religious in his diocese and the longest in religion. He referred to her long

life of service to the people of St Matthew’s, saying that by her example and fidelity she had been

an inspiration to the people in their practice of their Catholic Faith when they were sorely tried

and persecuted because they were Catholics. A great many of the people of the parish were

present at the requiem and many people who had known her from their childhood came from all

over the city to be present at the Mass, which she had taught them to love in her religious classes

when they were at school.

Not quite the END OF AN AULD STORY

By 1988, however, the future of St Paul’s Convent, Bryson Street was under discussion. There was,

of course, no suggestion that the Sisters of the Cross and Passion would leave Belfast. On the

contrary, to replace the convent in Bryson Street in May 1989 the Sisters rented a house in nearby

Madrid Street, afterwards replaced with another in Lisbon Street, both in St Matthew’s parish. On

12 November 1990 they opened a convent in Innisfayle Road; in 1992 another in Poleglass; and in

June 1997 another in Lagmore. In 1995 an extension had been made to our convent in Glen Road

in order to provide nursing care for a number of our elderly Sisters. In all of these five convents in

Belfast our Sisters were as deeply involved in answering the needs of the people as they were

when they first came to Ballymacarrett in 1900.

In more recent years, however, as all those Sisters have aged and even died and few, if any, young

people from Belfast have come to our novitiate to be Sisters of the Cross and Passion, the Sisters

can no longer play so active a part in the life of St Matthew’s parish as hitherto. They have been

heartened, however, by the development which has taken place in Belfast of the formation of Lay

Associates, who wish to live the Passionist spirituality of St Paul of the Cross in their own lives.

AND SO THE STORY CONTINUES.

Once we allow the entire universe to become alive for us, we are living in an enchanted world.

Nothing is meaningless; nothing can be dismissed. It's all whirling with the same beauty, the same

radiance. In fact, if I could name the Big Bang in my own language, I’d call it the Great Radiance.

The inner radiance of God started radiating at least 13.8 billion years ago. We must realize that we

are the continuation of that radiance in our small segment of time on Earth. We can either allow

it, and let the Trinitarian Flow flow through us, or we can deny it, which is to deny the divine

image. R Rohr

Part 2