Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (photo credit www.focusireland.ie)
- Bishop Coll “Sister Stan was, in so many ways, the love of Christ in action for others.”
The news of Sister Stanislaus ‘Stan’ Kennedy’s death has been greeted with a sense of great sadness and also with a deep gratitude among her many former colleagues and lifelong friends here in Kilkenny. Hers was a life of vision and service.
Sister Stan was a consistent voice for change in our world, the change needed to better serve those who had no voice for themselves. For many years she worked closely with my predecessor Bishop Peter Birch of Ossory to champion the teachings of the gospel following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). Before Government took a keen interest in social service provision, Dr Birch established an umbrella group in Kilkenny (his diocese) to co-ordinate the work of disparate voluntary organisations, local statutory bodies and religious orders. Within a year the Kilkenny Social Services Council, in whose work Sister Stan was intimately involved, recruited over a hundred volunteers, both Catholic and Protestant, who supplemented and co-ordinated existing social services and helped identify local needs such as meals and other practical supports for the elderly, housing and support for Travelers and schools for special needs children.
Later Sister Stan’s commitment to the gospel and its social vision would see her move to Dublin where she founded the charity Focus Ireland in 1985. Her belief that everyone had the right to a home inspired not only a lifetime of service for herself but also acted as a call to others to walk that same path. In so doing she transformed the lives of thousands of people for the better. Sister Stan was, in so many ways, the love of Christ in action for others.
I would like to extend my sympathies to Sister Stan’s family and to her religious community, the Religious Sisters of Charity. May the Lord who called her to service now grant her eternal rest.
ENDS
- Bishop Niall Coll is Bishop of Ossory