Sr Catherina Dunne ‘brought joy to all who encountered her’

The recent death of Sr Catherina Dunne of Blakefield House, Rahugh, Kilbeggan, marked the end of an extraordinary life lived over 94 years, more than 50 of them in South Africa where she died and was laid to rest.

Sr Catherina was born in August 1928, the fourth of 10 children, five boys and five girls. She was Baptised Helena, shortened to ‘Lena’. She and her two sisters, Sr Patricia, who is 84 and still living in South Africa, and the late Sr Magdalene, joined the Dominican Order.

Having completed secondary school with the Mercy Sisters, Lena first went to work in Dublin, to help her widowed mother. She felt a call to serve God on the missions, and she was influenced in that by her cousin, Josie Kavanagh from Mountmellick, who had been inspired by Sr Assunta, a nun who had come from England to speak in parishes about the Newcastle Dominican Sisters ministering in South Africa. The two girls joined the Dominican Sisters in Bushey Heath, England in 1947 and Lena’s mother attended the ceremony when she received the habit of St Dominic 10 months later.

After three years of Novitiate, Sr Catherina, along with eight other sisters, was chosen to work in South Africa, in education. She set sail in December 1950 and the group of young sisters who travelled with her included her younger sister, Amy (Sr Magdalene) and their cousin Diana. They sailed into Durban harbour on Christmas Day, 1950. The hot and humid climate was very different from that of Ireland. She had to catch a train from there to St Catherine’s Convent in Germiston, where money was scarce and comforts were sparse.

Sr Catherina was transferred to Our Lady of Fatima, Durban, in 1956, from where she went to Pietermaritzburg to do her teaching diploma and qualified as a junior school teacher. After graduating, she returned to Fatima Convent. The sisters were involved in the teaching of catechism to the children of the parish. Sr Catherina recalled her amazement when, in an effort to come to grips with the pronunciation of some typically South African names, she asked her pupils to write them down and found that there were no fewer than four with her surname, Dunn, without the final ‘e’.

The 1960s were busy years for the Catholic community of Durban North and the Sisters of Fatima Convent. Sr Catherina taught various junior classes as well as Latin and biology in the senior school. In 1964 she was made prioress of the convent, a position she held until her transfer to Dundee in 1968. From there, she was given time off to further her studies in theology, scripture and Catechesis in Rome.

With her new qualifications, she returned to Fatima convent in 1971 to co-ordinate religious education and it is in that role that she played a vital part in the formative years of many of the Fatima girls. She was also involved for many years in the parish catechetical programme, where her wisdom and experience were put to good effect. Even after retiring from teaching, Sr Catherina remained the RE co-ordinator and played an active part in school life, giving guidance and advice to the RE teachers.

As a member of the board of governors, she ensured that the values and traditions of the school were kept alive. She was described as having a “quiet diplomacy” who had a lasting influence on pupils and parents.

Sr Catherina loved the garden and would spend time enjoying its beauty and birdsong.

After she suffered a stroke in 2016, she asked to be transferred to Marian House, Boksburg, where she contributed generously to helping with the liturgy as chantress.

Sr Catherina was a person who loved and was loved. Testimony to the deep and lasting friendships that she forged over the years is the thousands of tributes pouring in on Facebook from past pupils, teachers and people who knew her. She touched many lives with her gentleness, thoughtfulness, her presence, her words of encouragement and her deep devotion to Our Lady.

A tribute from a family of past pupils, the Brady girls, was read at her funeral Mass in which they described Sr Catherina as “a truly special person” who it was “a blessing and a privilege” to have known. “She was loved by all for the grace and love she radiated, as well as her kindness, interest and care she showed for everyone, not to mention her sense of fun,” they wrote.

The tributes posted on the RIP website spoke of her as a beautiful person with a beautiful laugh and great company with lots of interesting and amusing stories to tell. She leaves behind a legacy of love and admiration.

Lena’s brother, Noel, and other family members watched her funeral Mass and burial on the internet last week, and in an interview with the Westmeath Examiner, he marvelled at how technology has advanced since his sister set sail for South Africa at a time when not even telephones were generally available.

Noel was only four years old when Lena left home. Their father had died tragically when he was just three months old, following a workplace accident in which he lost his thumb and subsequently developed blood poisoning. He left behind a widow and 10 children.

Noel recalls how his father’s death, just after the war, meant that his brother Joe had to leave secondary school to run the family business, Dunne’s Joinery, with their cousin. The business is still in existence and still in the family. Another brother, Cathal, took over running their farm of 14 acres. “We had two cows, a couple of calves and a few pigs. Nothing was bought except maybe, a tin of sardines,” Noel recalls. He remembers cycling, with his brothers, the eight miles to Tullamore to attend secondary school and later the tech.

He remembers too when Lena left home to join the Order, accompanied by Josie Kavanagh.

Sr Catherina did not return to Ireland for a quarter of a century, when the Vatican decreed that the nuns could “get out and come home”. Their mother travelled to South Africa when she was 75 years old to spend a few weeks with her daughters. Noel travelled there on three occasions and was struck by the beauty of the country, but he found “the heat was something else”.

As he watched his beloved sister’s obsequies, Noel heard details of the wonderful work Sr Catherina had done in her adopted land and the esteem in which she was held.

A classroom block in a new school building has been dedicated to her memory. In a book published to mark the opening of the new building, the contribution made by Sr Catherina Dunne to the school, staff and students was highlighted.

“As a principal she was firm, but fair; as a prioress she was admired and by members of the Dominican Community, as a colleague and teacher she was highly valued,” the tribute stated.

It went on to say that she was always interested in everyone’s wellbeing, was broad minded and her love of the school and its pupils, past and present was always unquestionable. “She is also remembered for her devotion to the religious aspect of education, for her love of her family, of Ireland and South Africa, and for her love of nature, which “translated into her interest in both the sisters’ garden and in the appearance of the school grounds”, it stated.

After retiring, Sr Catherina moved to the Sisters’ Retirement Home in Boksburg, but maintained close ties with the school she loved so dearly.

Sr Catherina is remembered as a kind, loving person who had a genuine interest in anyone who crossed the threshold of the school. If a past pupil or staff member was mentioned to her she could recall not only them but the names of their children and grandchildren.

She is remembered at home as a loving sister, aunt and cousin who brought laughter and joy to all who encountered her. RIP.