Cecilia Cadogan

Greetings from Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland and from the site of the second convent established by our Foundress, Catherine McAuley in 1836.  My route to Tullamore is very different to that of Catherine’s.  However, it begins like hers and like most of us with family.

My name is Cecilia Cadogan and I come from a family of eleven, having six brothers and four sisters.  My father worked in the Post Office and so we lived in a few towns around Ireland.  I was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary in 1955 and have limited memories of my time there as we moved to the Curragh Camp, Co Kildare when I was just short of my seventh birthday.  As a family we celebrated birthdays, First Communions, Confirmation, engagements and weddings. As a result, I love welcoming people to my home and always try to ensure that they feel welcomed and ‘at home’.

Seven years later we were on the move and this time to Tullamore, Co Offaly.  You will notice this as my first contact with the Sisters of Mercy.  In less than three years, another move was on the cards, to Clonmel, Co Tipperary.  Can you imagine how I as a teenager was feeling having just settled in this midland town, Tullamore?  Looking back on life there is usually a turning point, an event of some sort or other which eventually leads one to where one is meant to be in life!  At this time, I was beginning my final year in secondary school and I persuaded my parents to allow me to stay on as a boarder.  Eventually they agreed.  For the coming months I was living in the convent and thus had a closer view of the life of the Sisters.

My secondary education began in the Holy Family Secondary School in Newbridge, Co Kildare and now concluded in the Sacred Heart School, Tullamore.  I experienced the Sisters of Mercy in Tullamore as very open, accepting and forward looking.  In God’s providence, I felt drawn towards their way of life and made the decision to enter with them in September 1973.

Left to Right:  Cecilia and her Novitiate companions, Veronica Mangan and Mary Freeman

I always considered myself very blessed to have entered where I did.  I made Final Profession in the Church of the Assumption, Tullamore on 28th June, 1981.

In true mercy tradition, I received a thorough training for a probable future role in education.  I graduated with a Bachelor of Education degree from Our Lady of Mercy, Training College, Blackrock, Co Dublin and with a Diploma from the Institute of Religious Education, Mount Oliver, Dundalk, Co Louth.  My teaching years at Primary level were in Tullamore and Trim (Co Meath) working with mainstream classes, sacramental preparation, in remedial education and with children from the Travelling Community.  For a few short years in Clara, Co Offaly my classes focused on religious education.

Looking back over these years I realise with gratitude the many opportunities I received for self-development and renewal.  I have outstanding memories of

• participating in the Loreto House Programme in Dublin, Ireland
• taking a diploma in counselling and psychotherapy from Dundalk Counselling Centre
• attending the Institute of Religious Formation at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago and Berakah Retreat Centre, Pittsfield, New Hampshire, USA.

The breadth of the programmes broadened the parameters of my life.   Many had an international student body, which I found very valuable having grown up in a country, which was essentially monocultural at the time.   I began to accept my own giftedness and the giftedness of others and I found myself opening up to new ideas especially the expanding vision of the universe story.

These opportunities gave me the inner strength I needed to take up my role in Formation work, initial and ongoing, with the Inter-Provincial Resource Group, as a team member on the Congregational Leadership Team and currently as a Local Leader with other Sisters in Tullamore convent.  The wheel has come full circle.

Religious Life has undergone many changes since I entered in 1973.   Back then I felt the emphasis was on work, schedules, completing tasks and good results.   Life has taught me so much and with the passing years I realise that no life is plain sailing!  There is always so much to learn and share.  Over the years I read many books and articles.  Even today, Anthony de Mello’s writings stand out.  He brought together wisdoms from the East and the West and used stories and parables to awaken me along with his readers to an awareness of God’s presence right here in our midst, in the present moment. Writing on such topics as ‘Awareness’, ‘Love’ and filling his books with such thoughts as ‘the greatest learning lies in accepting life exactly as it comes to us’ has enabled me to slow down somewhat and to try to live in the present moment.   I now see my gifts as my contribution to the world and to Mercy life and I try to accept the limitations of life. Every day offers opportunities to pause a little longer and to trust my instincts!  In the words of Patrick Kavanagh in his poem Question to Life, “So be reposed and praise, praise, praise the way it happened and the way it is.”

Of course, some relaxation and enjoyment are essential!  I love being outdoors and appreciate times when I can walk.  I delight in music and of course meeting up with family and friends.

Cecilia (Top Left) on Bray Head with her friends Michelle, Antoinette, Siobhan, Paula and Sinéad

I realise that I have been and am still being carried within a caring Mercy world.  I am constantly inspired by the rich mercy giftedness of the Sisters whom I meet, with whom I live and whose words I read in the various Mercy documents.  This Mercy giftedness is alive in the many people I know and love and I am convinced that Catherine McAuley’s spirit is alive, well, and still infectious.

Cecilia Cadogan rsm