105th Anniversary Mass for Eileen O’Connor

On January 10, we celebrated the Anniversary Mass for Servant of God Eileen O’Connor at St Brigid’s Church, Coogee. About one hundred people attended despite the temperatures reaching over 40c. We were blessed with cool ocean breeze that moved through the church as the congregation came together to pray and sing honouring Eileen, Fr McGrath and the Sisters who have worked tirelessly to help the poor in Sydney, Minto, Macquarie Fields, Newcastle, and Brisbane.

Sr Gabriel Bast oln, Sr Kerry Macdermott oln with Congregational Leader Sr Laureen Dixon rsc, Sr Gaye Reynolds rsc and Sr Suzette Clark rsc are pictured with Bishop Terry Brady who celebrated the Mass with the assistance of Fr Thoi Tran msc, Fr Pat Mara msc, Fr Paul Smithers, Fr Carroll Martin msc, Fr Bob Irwin msc and Fr John Knight. 

Bishop Terry, who has always supported and loved Eileen and the work of the Sisters, encouraged those present and those watching through live-stream, to spread the word about Eileen among family, friends, and the wider church community.  After morning tea in the Church hall, pilgrims walked up the hill to pray at Eileen tomb and view our new Centre.

Eileen O’Connor had many qualities including compassion, kindness, strength, joyfulness and absolute trust in Our Lord and Our Lady. A guiding light for all of us to learn from!