Romana McDwyer

Deceased Sisters

Romana McDwyer - Ireland
22/12/1935 - 04/02/2019

Gathering is at the heart of Christian worship. We gather as people of faith to worship, to listen to the word of God, to break the Bread of Life, to enter into communion with one another around a common table. We can describe all of these activities in different ways but the word ‘celebrate’ is probably the best word to use.

Sometimes of course that word ‘celebrate’ can seem forced and awkward but today, the word ‘celebrate’ couldn’t be more apt to describe what we are doing here in St Mary’s Church. What we are doing is celebrating the life of Sister Romana, celebrating her faith, nurtured in the bosom of her family in Sooey, celebrating the call of God to religious life and to mission as a Marist Sister, celebrating the great work she has accomplished over the past 54 years, and last, most importantly of all, celebrating the person, the lovely woman whom we all knew as Romana or Mary to you her family.

The Celtic monks of old saw life as a pilgrimage. For them, pilgrimage was not a journey to a particular place but an attitude that embraces all of life. In faith terms, pilgrimage takes the bits and pieces of our lives and places them within a context of belief – belief in a God who knows us intimately and cares for us beyond our wildest imagining. The writer of our first reading from the book of wisdom comes to my assistance offering a neat summation of Romana’s life:

” Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor number of years the true measure of life. Understanding, this is woman’s grey hairs. Untarnished life, this is ripe old age”.

Then he offers the simple but profound summation of her life.

“She has sought to please God, so God has always loved her”

Lest we get carried away, St Paul in our second reading, by using the symbol of an earthenware jar, reminds us of our human frailty and fragility. In his great love for us, God has given to all of us a treasure – the treasure of our great dignity, worth and inner beauty as persons. But – and isn’t there always a but – we carry this treasure in a vessel made of clay, namely our body.

“We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure within, to make it clear, that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us”.

That indomitable spirit has been given to all of us and is untouched and undamaged by the ravages of disease or ageing or the accumulated hurts and pains over the span of our life-time.

It was this tenacity and graciousness of spirit that enabled Romana to battle so courageously with her illness and physical diminishment over the last number of years.

Mary McDwyer was born and reared in Sooey Co. Sligo. She was the eldest of six children born to Joe and Peg McDwyer. She is predeceased by her beloved sister Anna. Love of her family was central to her life. Her four brothers, Oliver, Joe, Ray and John have always had a special place in her heart and her life. Her brother-in-law Seamus was also very dear to her as were her sisters-in-law, Brenda, Mary and Josephine. She took a keen interest in you, her beloved nieces and nephews, rejoicing in your exploits and successes. You afforded her many opportunities to indulge her great generosity of spirit with a variety of gifts, sweets being top of the list – giving her in turn ample opportunity to satisfy one of her few weaknesses.

She received her secondary education at the Marist convent here in Carrick and the sisters must have had a significantly positive influence on her, because she decided to follow in their footsteps, being professed in 1955. Her first missionary appointment was to Sydney in Australia in that same year, a place called Merrylands. I sat enthralled two days ago as Sr Moira, who accompanied Sr Romana and Sr Rita on the trip to Australia, recalled the delightfully exciting adventure the three sisters enjoyed on their five-week voyage on a boat called the Arcadia. If I were to give you an account of their various encounters, we would be here for the evening! Suffice to say, a whole new world of exciting possibilities was opening up for these young, impressionable nuns.

In her new home, the sisters had to be self-sufficient – so the few cows had to be milked, a vegetable garden attended to and a host of other menial chores undertaken – all done in a spirit of joyful service and prayerful devotion. After a very happy six years there, she moved to Woolwich, another suburb of Sydney, spending two years there before moving to Burwood. It was here in Burwood that she began her teacher training, quickly discovering that she had a natural aptitude for teaching young children in the equivalent of infants, first and second classes. She wasn’t just a dedicated teacher, good at her job. She was an outstanding teacher who excelled in her profession. This is just one of the special hallmarks, one of the defining characteristics of her life. She was blessed with an array of wonderful gifts and outstanding qualities. Her gentle, humble manner, her keen and pragmatic intelligence, her great creativity and highly imaginative spirit, her sense of magnetic attraction, meant that all young children in her care were truly blessed to have a person like Romana exert such a positive influence on their young lives. She gave them the ability to formulate, not only ‘elastic sentences’ but she gave a new, vibrant and expansive meaning to what ‘education’ could and should be. Yes, she was a born teacher in the best possible sense.

From Australia she moved to Fiji where she spent nine very happy and fulfilled years in three different locations. Again, the many children, from various countries and a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, were greatly privileged to benefit at the hands of this wonderful young Irish nun, whose teaching style left an indelible imprint on them for the rest of their lives.

Returning home to Ireland she was sent to Tubbercurry where she spent nine years teaching in the convent National School. She had to cope with the Irish bureaucratic system when her teaching qualifications from Australia were not recognised and she ended up doing her diploma over a two-year period. Thankfully, the man sent to inspect her quickly realised the brilliant teacher in front of him and duly informed her there was no point in his coming to inspect her anymore. Once again, the young children in Tubbercurry came under the gentle, creative and imaginative influence of Romana. The school curriculum was expanded well beyond the classroom and the children put on plays, took part in arts and crafts and a variety of other activities, at which they all excelled.

By now she had begun to cultivate and craft her skills as a poet, writing a variety of poems that were grounded in the world around her but found gestation from a place deep within. In her case that lovely quotation from the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning comes to mind and can aptly be applied to Romana:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only she who sees takes off her shoes; the rest sit around and pluck blackberries”.

Yes, she was blessed with a poetic sensibility.

Her life came full circle when she came here to Carrick in 1989 and for almost thirty years this has been her home. For all the school children and the many adults who came within her sphere of influence, what a magnificent privilege. Her tireless energy and creative talents were put to great use: Working with the Marist Laity, setting up a bible study class with Dr Judy Ceannt, actively participating in and widely promoting the John McGahern Summer school, making liturgical banners to adorn the sanctuary in St Patrick’s hospital chapel, working with Fr Ray Staunton sm to produce a beautiful Marist calendar, giving courses to teachers in the Teachers’ centre, finding quality time to follow the various plays, written and produced by her brother John, doing art work on stones, cultivating her passion for reading, going by car on various excursions, writing letters to various people, especially those who might have ‘upset’ her in some little way. I believe she even wrote to Queen Elizabeth and got a reply.

Despite her many and varied involvements, she never lost sight of the core dimension of her life. Her religious vocation was the foundation of all she did and represented. She loved God and she loved being a Marist Sister.

In truth, she was a wonderful exemplar for religious life – a gentle, happy woman, extraordinarily generous in spirit, without any airs, issues or graces, without any trace of arrogance or regret. She was a joy-filled woman who remained ‘semper fidelis’ right to the end.

Yes, it is only right and proper that we are celebrating a life exceptionally well lived. Our celebration is also tinged with sorrow and sadness as we are deeply mindful of the loss for you her family and for her great friends and sisters in the Marist community.

We thank the Lord for many blessings, gifts and talents he so generously bestowed on her and her strong faith that was ‘the’ enduring dimension of her life. We now entrust her gentle soul to the merciful embrace of the God who loved her all through her life and now joyfully welcomes her home in death.

Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam uasal dilis.

Homily for the funeral of Sister Romana

Thursday 7 February 2019

Fr Frank Garvey PP

Deceased Sisters

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