RIP Sr. Dorothy (Eileen) O'Brien
Sr. Nuala Harty shares this obituary on the life of Sr. Dorothy. Sr. Dorothy passed away on February 28th, 2016. May she rest in peace.
Sr. Dorothy (Eileen) O'Brien, RIP.
1920-2016
Eileen O’Brien (Sr. Dorothy) was born in Rineen, Skibbereen, on 24th December, 1920 – the eldest of five, two boys and three girls. She grew up in a close-knit family, and to the end of her life her close ties to family continued with the younger generations.
Eileen entered Ardfoyle in 1943, breaking off her engagement for marriage in order to follow the Lord’s beckoning to a different path. We may assume that the young man who was left behind in Skibbereen continued to hope that one day his lively young sweetheart would come back to him. But there was no turning back for Eileen. Following her postulancy in Ardfoyle, the following March, she was received as a Novice, and given the religious name, Sr. Dorothy - known to most of us as Dor.
After two years of Novitiate, Sr. Dorothy made her First Profession, beginning her missionary life, which was to continue for seventy years. On 28th February, retired to St. Raphael’s in Ardfoyle, she was within a week of marking her Platinum Jubilee as a Religious, when the Lord beckoned her home. It was the end of a long life, lived fully, generously, graciously, not without its difficulties, and with much love. Dor gave herself cheerfully, whole-heartedly and with good humour to whatever assignments she was given.
After Profession, for her first ten years Dor had to sacrifice her desire to go to Africa, being assigned instead to Ardfoyle Primary School. Wherever she was, her way of doing mission was always through relationships – solid relationships of genuine interest, caring, and supportive love. By nature a “people person,” building up relationships was her particular strength, and she had a phenomenal capacity for maintaining friendships over long years. She was always available - with a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a caring word of advice - someone who shared fully in the joys and sorrows of those around her. So, in this first assignment as an OLA Sister, the young Dor relished the experience of school, with its constant close interactions with children and their parents; and during these years she developed life-long friendships. Recently, when someone told her of meeting a past pupil who asked to be remembered to her – not really expecting to be remembered over almost seventy years - even in her illness, it didn’t take Dor a split second to recall that pupil and all about her.
When, in the summer of 1956, Sr. Dorothy finally got her wish to go on the missions, she was posted to Ibadan, in Western Nigeria, to open a new Primary School in Maryhill. A big project, and life was far from simple. The building for the new school would not be completed until the following year. Regardless of this difficulty, the first little pupils were gathered; and classes began in temporary accommodation, first in St Teresa’s College and then in Maryway Secondary School. When the new school in Maryhill finally opened, there were over 90 pupils of twelve different nationalities. In this environment Dor was in her element. As well as building up an excellent school, she wove a web of close relationships with the pupils and parents and with the staff and their families.
Meanwhile, as the Primary School was developing, Maryhill was also home to the Novitiate that was being set up for young Nigerian and Ghanaian women who wished to join the O.L.A Congregation. From 1962 to 1968, Sr. Dorothy served as Novice-Mistress there. In the summer of 1968 she was asked to take on the same role at home in Rostrevor. She tells us that this was her most difficult assignment yet. She had her return ticket to Nigeria, and it made her very sad to see other Sisters returning to Africa. But she took up the challenge. It was after Vatican 11, and a difficult time to be in Formation in Ireland, when vocations were slow in coming and many were leaving. For the next few years, apart from a sabbatical in Bellinter, Dor looked after the Novices, first in Rostrevor, and then in the Dublin convent, where she also looked after the young professed Sisters. She is remembered with much affection by all those who grew under her guidance over these difficult years.
By 1973, Dor was free from Formation work. It was a new lease of life for her to join Sr. Stanislaus in the Kilkenny Social Centre, where she worked from 1973 to 1975, then moving to the Robert Gordon College in Aberdeen for Social Work training. She loved the work, but an accident on the ice obliged her to come back to Ireland in 1977 for treatment and recovery. Other serious health problems surfaced at this time, preventing her from returning to Scotland. In 1978, she began to work in family ministry, first in St Anne’s Adoption Society in Blackpool, and then in the Cork-Ross Family Centre. Recurrent illness caused her to take time off frequently, and regretfully she left this ministry in 1986.
Back in Ardfoyle, Dor was as active as her health allowed. She served for a time as Receptionist, and was exceptional in her hospitality and kindness to visitors. As a community member, though fragile in health and at times struggling with life, she was a lively presence and a good companion. She kept up-to-date on events outside the community, cultural, political and sport – especially the G.A.A. and racing. Always keenly observant of what was going on around her, she remained closely in touch and concerned about everyone in the community - about their joys and sorrows and the joys and sorrows of their families. She described herself as “retired in Ardfoyle” from 1996, but in this “retirement” she never lost her interest and warm concern for the many people in her wide web of relationships.
Towards the end of February, Dorothy was apparently getting weaker. We were willing her to stay with us for her Platinum Jubilee on 5th March. She too was looking forward to it – but maybe not in the way we expected. Sr Maura Cranney, our House Superior, was speaking with Dor during these days about the upcoming Jubilee. When Maura spoke of it as a great occasion for thanking God for his blessings over her long life, Dor clasped her hands, and looking quite ecstatic, said and repeated very emphatically: “Yes! I want to thank him - FACE TO FACE !” Maura wondered if Dor truly realized what she was saying then. But apparently she did understand. “Face to face” are the closing words of the hymn she had requested to be sung in the cemetery at her funeral – “Only a Shadow”. Our faith in the super-abundant generosity and compassion of our King of Love assures us that Sr Dorothy’s thanksgiving was indeed expressed face-to-face to the God she had so faithfully struggled to follow over her long life. May we all be similarly blessed with joy and gratitude when our time comes.
“The joy I feel today, my Lord,
Is only a shadow of your joys for me,
Only a shadow of your joys for me,
When we meet face to face.”
Nuala Harty, OLA
