RIP Sr. Deanna Donohoe
Sr. Deanna passed away on August 31st, 2016, after a short ilness. Below are some thoughts shared by Sr. Kathleen McGarvey, Provincial Leader of OLA (Ireland), at Sr. Deanna's funeral. May she rest in peace.
Sr. Deanna Donohoe, RIP. 1942-2016
Good afternoon and welcome. A special word of welcome to Sr Deanna’s sister Mary, and to her brothers Denis, Joe, Oliver, Paul, Eugene and Gerry. Welcome also to Deanna’s brother-in-law Gerry, sisters in law Rosemary, Maire, Marian and Nuala, to her nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, relatives, and the many other friends and neighbours who are gathered here from near and far. Failte to all the religious and priests here present of various congregations, to the OLA Sisters of our Dublin community of which Deanna was a member, to all other OLA Sisters, and to the SMA Fathers who, as always, are here to celebrate with us and particularly so today given the connection the Donohue family has with both our institutes.
Quite possibly, at least some of you were here in Ardfoyle forty nine years ago in March ‘67 for Deanna’s first profession as an OLA Sister. That day, Deanna professed to give her life to God in the service of God’s Kingdom, especially in Africa, doing whatever service was asked of her and working wherever she was sent. Over the years since then that is what Deanna has done.
After Profession she worked in Ardfoyle, and in SMA houses in Clough Ballymore and Blackrock and studied both in England and Dublin to qualify as a nurse and midwife. In 1975 she Professed her final vows in Portlaoise, in her home parish, next door to where she was laid out yesterday. In 1976, she was sent to Africa: to Akwanga in Plateau state Nigeria where she spent four years in the OLA hospital; then two years doing further studies in England, before going back to Nigeria in 1982, this time to Papiri. Here, she said, she really felt she was on mission because it was so rural and under-developed. She spent almost eight years in Papiri before being asked in 1991, to open a new OLA mission in Tanzania – in the very rural and poor area of Mwamapalala. Herself and Sr Maired Hickey are the pioneers of OLA mission in Tanzania, where we recently celebrated our silver jubilee. Mass was celebrated for Deanna this morning in Mwamapalala parish and at this very moment they are gathered for a concelebrated mass for Deanna in our house in Mwanza, in union with us.
Deanna spent seven years in Mwamapalala. They did great work there, living in poor conditions and healing many sick people who came to the clinic; but it was not a busy place, and was very quiet. As Deanna said, “my time in Tanzania was for me a time of spiritual awakening and a realisation of the value of life and of living more contemplatively. I looked at the busy life I had lived in Nigeria; Now I saw that my real worth was more about living from the core of my being, and honouring that. Work was never going to be that which identified me, but my real value as a person was looking at ways to respond to this great God who gave me life and to whom I am still learning how to respond.”
She left Tanzania in 2000 and since then has worked in Lancaster, Castlemagarett, some time back in Tanzania and of course in Cuan Mhuire in Athy. Deanna’s last missionary tour to Tanzania was from May 2015 to April of this year. Recently Deanna was invited to join our community here in Ardfoyle and help as a driver. She was in the process of packing her bags to move to Cork, had already sent on some of her things in these last few days. But God decided otherwise.
A very big part of Deanna’s missionary life here in Ireland was from 2007 until 2013 when she worked in Cuan Mhuire in Athy. There she found great satisfaction. As she wrote herself in 2008: “Now my life is more about honouring this God given gift of life by living from within and sharing this unconditional love with all whom God sends into my life. Cuan Mhuire is giving me the opportunity to live that just now.” I very much appreciate the presence of Cuan Mhuire staff here today. You have told me that Deanna was excellent at her work there in the Detox section, she was committed, methodical, and above all else, she was caring, non-judgemental, and non-critical and she accepted every patient who came into Cuan Mhuire as a child of God.
Deanna truly loved her family, and in my meeting so many of you these past few days I can surely appreciate why. You are indeed a great testimony of family unity, love and care. May God grant each of you the strength and consolation you need at this time and in the days to come.
You have all lived through the pain of loss: the death of your father on mission Sunday 1966 when Deanna was a novice, then the loss of your mother in March 1969, followed by the very tragic loss of Raymond a year later, then Fr Dominic in 1973 in Liberia, and then Fr Brendan in 1975 in Nigeria. This was all very difficult for all of you, too much at any time but certainly too much together. As Deanna herself said after Brendan’s death, “All these people who were so important in my life were gone… I looked into myself and saw the only real constant is Jesus. He was the only one I could depend on. In a way Brendan’s death was a real wake up time for me. I began to pay more attention to life, to what was important in my life, to my role in life and why I was here. I began a journey of self-discovery and I am still on it.” I think these words are very deep and they are also words that express Deanna’s journey over the years since then. In 1996 and so often since then she spoke about feeling called to a more contemplative life; she felt called to combine the contemplative and the missionary way of life which she felt was true to the OLA charism and wanted to balance the contemplative aspect with ministry and live it in community. This desire to find a balance between contemplation and mission which Deanna really struggled with, and which she took time to test and reflect on in Lancaster, Kent, Marianella and in Rome, is a struggle I think all of us as OLAs are called to live daily, being that ours is a Cenacle spirituality. I hope that Deanna will intercede for us all from above that we may be true to this spirituality and be able to live it faithfully.
I would like to thank all who cared for Deanna in St Luke’s hospital Kilkenny this past week. I was deeply impressed and touched by their attentiveness and their care. There in the hospital, and then draped on Deanna’s bed after she passed away, we saw the end of life symbol which you see on the cover of the mass booklet – its three stranded spirals and white circle symbolise the interconnected cycle of birth, life and death, and it shows that these are complete, continuous, and infinite. Deanna was a woman who contemplated the meaning of life and death, and in her contemplation she tried to enter more deeply into the mystery of God. I pray today that she will help all of you, her family, and all of us who knew and loved her to grow too in that spirit of contemplation and enter ever more deeply into the mystery of the love of God.
On her final profession leaflet, Deanna wrote: “Lord, as I make my final profession…, I ask you to look with loving kindness on me in my littleness... In life give us wisdom and calm steadfastness in seeking You, and in death give us the fullness of Your love and Peace.” We pray that Deanna’s prayer has been granted and that she now knows the fullness of God’s love and peace.
Before I finish, I would like to draw our attention to the symbols that are here before the altar: a carving from Nigeria, symbolising Africa and its people whom Deanna promised to serve; and some birds reminding us of Deanna’s love of nature and her search for God in it. Together these symbols help us recall Deanna’s life, person, missionary and spiritual journey. Thank you God for Deanna. May she rest in peace.
I now hand you over to Fr Martin to lead us in our Eucharist as we entrust Deanna into the hands of God. Go raibh mile maith agaibh
Kathleen McGarvey OLA, Provincial Leader
