How does a country girl from a tiny townland of approximately two square miles, containing twelve households, educated at the university of Ballinruan, ( I jest–Ballinruan is a two teacher rural elementary school in the west of Ireland) find herself coming to the Kennedy Space Center attempting to teach people developing rockets to fly to the moon?????

Sr. Hilda is second from left and Sr. Kathleen is on the far right

Looking back now, I recall a visit from the then Reverend Mother of Gort Convent to our high school in a little seaside place of Kinvara during which she suggested to me that she thought I had a vocation. After a lot of prayer I decided I would try out the convent. I had a plan in my mind that might work out — I would join the community in Gort, just 7 miles from home. In this way, I would be near my parents when they would get old and needed help. I soon learned that God had another plan! Along came Fr. O’Hare begging for Sisters who would come to a place called Titusville, Florida to teach in the Catholic school which he was hoping to establish there. Lo and behold, I found myself boarding a plane in Shannon airport on the day after my Final Profession and I’ve never looked back since.

50 years seems like 50 weeks! This is due to the combination of the welcome we received from the people of Titusville and the cooperation and encouragement that had made Titusville my home since that time. In reflecting today, I can now thank God for all those apparently chance meetings, greetings, influences and attractions that by God’s grace are woven into a loving Providence guiding my life. I thank God too for the bonds of family, community and friendships that have sustained me on that journey; for sustaining me through all the struggles, tussles, and agonizing choices along the way, and for the gift of perseverance through all the storms of mind and heart that blow up on the journey of life.

I thank God for each generation of children that I’ve been privileged to teach and for all those colleagues and school staff down through the years who have made school life an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for me, for those parents who have entrusted their children to our school and the faithful and generous friends who have brightened up our lives since we first came to Titusville. I thank God for all the priests and Sisters who served in Titusville during my lifetime; each of whom has made a unique contribution to the life of our parish.

And so, after 52 years, I thank God especially for the present moment. The God who sustained us through all those transitions from very simple beginnings to the great blessings of today—beautiful buildings with the latest technology and the most treasured of all– the beautiful people who carry on the Mercy spirit into the future…

Since September of 2013, we have been overwhelmed by the appreciation shown to us by the people of Titusville for the work of the Sisters of Mercy there since 1961. Now that I’m back home in Ireland to such a warm welcome from the Gort community and the Western Province, I am looking forward to maintaining contact with so many friends on both sides of the ocean.

Kathleen O’Brien rsm

Growing up in Kildysart, a village in West Clare on the banks of the Shannon, a significant influence in my childhood years were the Columban Sisters in Cahercon just a mile from my home. There was already a family link with the Columbans, as my grand uncle, Patrick Cleary, was one of the founding members of the Columban Maynooth Mission to China. My initial leaning was toward a mission in the Far East, but God had a different plan!

Having gone to the Mercy boarding school in Gort, Co Galway, I became aware of the Sisters from that community who were already serving in the Florida mission; gradually the thought of joining the Mercy community of Gort, with the intention of joining the Florida mission, became more attractive. I entered the Novitiate on Mercy Day in 1963 and studied music. This allowed me to teach music in Seamount College for nine years. An invitation then came from the Titusville, Florida Community to join the already established school community.

I was happy to accept and was then faced with balancing the excitement of going to Florida with the new challenge of studying for the appropriate qualifications for teaching in a different country and culture. I arrived on Tuesday, Mercy Day, 1978 and started teaching Kindergarten the next day! From the very first moment I felt welcomed and at home in the community and in the classroom. In the years following, I studied to gain the necessary qualifications. I had the opportunity to teach almost all grades and found the students very receptive and friendly and got tremendous energy and satisfaction from the shared enthusiasm and joy in teaching and learning. For my last years I had the privilege of teaching religion to the 10 — 14 year old students and found it most rewarding. St. Teresa School has continued to grow and adapt to the changing needs of each generation of children.

As I look back over the many changes down through the years, I see that the presence of the Holy Spirit had a huge impact on my life. I prayed often during the day for guidance and inspirations. I often found myself doing and saying things that didn’t come from me. I attributed it to the Holy Spirit. I got to know the power of the Spirit. I don’t think I’d have the need for this help so much if I had not been faced with all these new challenges.

Now that Sr. Kathleen and I have come full circle and are back home in Ireland, we are so happy that the torch is now carried by the present staff and community of Titusville with whom it was our privilege to serve for all those years.

Hilda Cleary rsm
US Province