SISTER MOLLIE AHERN RSCJ - R.I.P
What does the Lord ask of you but to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.
Today, Margot and I will share some insights into the way our dear Mollie lived
these words from Micah: Margot from the rich family memories, and I will share
some of the heart memories of Mollie’s RSCJ family.
Mollie’s life had all the qualities of a steady, constant fire, with many different manifestations. It was a fire that at times ignited others with laughter, fun, joy and creativity; at others it simmered down to glowing coals: her love of literature, her deep appreciation of poetry, and her intelligent understanding of history.
The foundations of this fire were her great love for her family, her constant loyal friendships, her deep love for the Society of the Sacred Heart and its members, and above all her faith, expressed in a life of prayer, of her humble service and her fidelity to living the message of the Gospel.
Mollie loved telling the story of her first request to enter the Society. As I was finishing my Degree, I wrote to the Vicar of the Australian and New Zealand Province, asking to enter the Society. I wanted to live my God-given life in a serious way and with similarly motivated companions.
Alas, memories of my cheekiness at school led to a negative answer, and I was informed that my vocation was to marriage. The following year, the family travelled overseas. However, Mollie could not accept a “no.” She wrote her plea to one of her RSCJ teachers of yesteryear, whose Superior read the letter, and from her long experience as Mistress of Novices, declared that Mollie’s was one of the clearest vocations she’d seen. She then received a new message informing her that she did have a vocation and we entered the Society together at Rose Bay in Sydney on February 2, 1957. We were finally Professed in Rome on July 21, 1965. By the time of Mollie’s final Profession, she was already appreciated as an outstanding teacher, both at Stuartholme and at Rose Bay. The path ahead looked crystal clear, when she was named the class teacher for English and History for the two top classes at Rose Bay from August, 1965, and then Mistress of Studies, as well there, in 1968. She was deeply appreciated by her students, both for her integrity as a person, and the brilliance of her teaching. As Professor Annie Bye, one of these students, and now a leading paediatric neurologist at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney told me: Her great integrity as a person and a teacher so inspired me, that I tried to emulate her clarity of mind. Part-time study added to Mollie’s educational preparation during the following years, and she was named Principal in 1970. When Kincoppal and Rose Bay amalgamated in 1971, Mollie became the Deputy Principal of the Senior Campus at Kincoppal. She accepted this challenging assignment, but after 2 years, her energy had so deteriorated that she was sent back to Brisbane to work towards her M.A. Qual. at Qld University. In actuality, this time became vital for the redirection of her life. She became politized to the nuances of history, which caused her to think about the sharp contrasts in life in different countries. In 1975, Mollie asked to be allowed to serve overseas where help was needed with education, and she was sent to the Vice-Province of Uganda/Kenya.
This began the second significant period of Mollie’s life of service in the Society, and the heart call to bring greater justice into our world, expanded and grew. Mollie’s introduction to Africa was to discover that she was unable to teach at Nkozi Teachers’ College where she had been assigned, because the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, had just declared the country self-sufficient with regard to teachers of the Humanities, so the Provincial Council directed her, pro tem, to Karamoja in the north east of the country. Mollie began teaching in the secondary school of a new Congregation for men, founded by the Italian Bishop of the Diocese. Mollie then requested to stay on there and in her own words she wrote: Thus began years of teaching in the Catholic-founded Primary Teachers’ College which served students from several Districts, all fresh from Primary Schools themselves. It was a poor but beautifully-run College, and I found my place teaching English and Christian Education.
Margot Crowther, who also spent many years in the Kenya/Uganda Province adds these details:
Mollie fell in love with Karamoja from the beginning. The landscape resembles Western Queensland, except for the spectacularly stark, small hills dotted here and there admidst the low scrub and thorn trees. Moroto where she lived sprawls at the base of beautiful Mt. Moroto near our house. Here she taught in the Teachers’ Training College, honing her skills and learning. She trained mostly Karamajong teachers. She loved her students and spared no effort to keep in touch with them when they took up their positions in isolated little primitive schools, travelling long distances over the long, dusty or muddy roads. She made many friends too among the few Europeans there – mostly Italian Carboni Fathers and Sisters and the English members of the Church of Uganda.
Amin was overthrown in 1979, and Mollie, with the other RSCJ sisters, experienced the wild flight of his soldiers from their local barracks, and the arrival of the Tanzanian soldiers. Famine conditions followed, as well as foreign Aid Agencies of varying quality. Mollie acknowledged, but made little of the chaos, disruption and fear experienced by our Communities during those years. In 1982, Mollie’s service in Africa took on a new direction when she was named “Education Secretary” for the Diocese and a member of the Diocesan Social Services and Development Committees. She loved these absorbing responsibilities, which called on her creativity, her resilience and her wisdom in discernment. This stretched her mind and heart and gave an excellent preparation when she was called to be a delegate to the Society’s General Chapter.
Mollie came home for a long leave in 1986, and spent some months at Braybrook, then the Province’s Noviceship. Her contribution in the Community was major, with her valuable input on recent Society history, the ’82 Chapter, Scripture and Prayer. It was above all, the example of her own life and her dedication to Justice that called forth ever-greater generosity in others. Soon after her return to Uganda/Kenya, Mollie was asked to be Provincial. Margot Crowther has another special comment on this time: As Provincial at a crisis time in the Province, Mollie showed her sensitive warm-heartedness to any member of the Province who was suffering. In particular, her compassion reached out to our Ugandan Sisters, as many of their family members fell victim to AID’s. Her understanding and practical assistance has been lovingly remembered by the Sisters. Another serious preoccupation of Mollie’s, with her Provincial Council, was the tertiary education of the young sisters. Except for Makerere University in Kampala and Nairobi University, both inadequately staffed, financed and subject to prolonged closures, there was no other means of obtaining professional training of a high standard. Mollie made the courageous decision to send several of the young African Sisters overseas. She realised that the development of Uganda/Kenya would depend on the sound education of its youth. The Provinces of Ireland/Scotland, the United States, England and Australia/New Zealamd were particularly generous in funding and supporting this project. The decision imposed extra work on those left at home, and caused criticism, but it has proved inspirational for the ongoing life of the Province.
When Mollie completed her service as Provincial in 1994, she had home leave, and then returned to Uganda/ Kenya. She was asked to be Chancellor to the newly appointed Bishop in Karamoja, a role she carried out for the next three years, with loyalty, humility, diligence and suffering. This is a difficult role for a woman in Australia/ New Zealand, but one that was entirely unknown in the Church of Africa. The large number of priests, sisters and friends visiting our Ugandan and Kenyan Sisters to express their sympathy since hearing of Mollie’s death last Friday, tells its own story. As with the young Sister teaching at Stuartholme, Rose Bay, Kincoppal and Sacre Coeur in the 60’s, the Mollie of the 90’s was valued for the quality of her relationships, the excellence of her work and her reverent respect for all others.
When she returned to our Province in late 1999, Mollie was sent to the Duchesne College Community. She described her life there as doing the things that retired people do
· the completion of the torturous, but very valuable history of the Uganda/Kenya Province, a work of great love, now published.
· involvement with the Society of St Vincent de Paul, giving assistance to the Inala Support Centre, and appreciating the relationships with others involved.
· home-tutoring in English to Refugees, after completing the TESOL Course.
· leading a prayer group, to reflect on Scripture and deeply valuing exploring with them the riches of contemporary spirituality.
· supporting and loving her family and friends through joys and sorrows.
· leading the Province’s Committee for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation until last year, but still remaining a member of the Committee. She bought to us the wisdom and clarity of her 25 years in Uganda/Kenya, gently but strongly calling us beyond any temptation to compromise, guiding us to ever deeper Gospel insights.
I could further extend this list, but the Congregation gathered here speaks for itself.
Dear Mollie, our Sister,
Your RSCJ Sisters in Australia, New Zealand, Uganda, Kenya and indeed, around the world, loved you deeply. Your close, sorrowing friends who also span the world: Paulina, June, Judith, Helen, Ursula, Marnie and Betty, to name a few, have generously shared their memories as have many RSCJ of this Province.
· We knew you as a woman of tremendous heart, who discerned courageously, a pacifier, and a catalyst for change;
· We valued your indomitable spirit, which worked passionately to educate to reduce the gap between political leaders and those most deprived;
· We loved you in your ability to listen with reverence; to laugh with abandon; to confuse with complexity and to light up our journey to God.
· You have inspired us by your whole-hearted response to the urgent love of the Heart of our God by loving tenderly, acting justly and walking humbly throughout His earth. I conclude with this small extract from D.H. Lawrence’s Shadows:
And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God and NEW CREATED