To Enable Women and Children

Behind the scene ...

Catherine McAuley appeared to have a gentle way of pointing out matters of concern and nurturing collegial relationships among her sisters so that, if correction were required, it was done in an amiable manner, sometimes with humour. Reflecting on the first eight years of the order, she wrote: “one thing is remarkable – that no breach of charity ever occurred amongst us. The sun never, I believe, ever went down on our anger. This is our only boast – otherwise we have been deficient enough – and far, very far, from cooperating generously with God in our regard, but we will try to do better – all of us – the black heads [professed sisters who wore black veils] – will try to repair the past.” (Sullivan, 2004, p. 180)

Reference:

Sullivan, M. C. [Ed] (2004) The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley 1818-1841 Dublin: Four Courts Press.