Missionaries from Kilmurry Parish

Sr. Marian O' Sullivan

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Sr. Marion O'Sullivan
Sr. Marian was born in 1932 in Classis not far from Canovee Church. Her father, Pat, farmed where the Lee family are now. Her mother, Joan, taught at Canovee all her life. She had three sisters, Marie, Helen, and Kay. Her teachers were, besides her mother, Lena Buckley, Mrs. Healy and Dick Young.

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After finishing her Primary school she went to Macroom for three years and then went on to Sion Hill as a boarder for another two. After finishing her Leaving Cert she decided to join the Dominicans. She spent three years in the novitiate in County Kildare and after another few months in Belfast she went to South Africa, where she did her university studies and taught in Cape Town and Pretoria for several years.

Sr. Marion gives us the lovely discription of Africa

"South Africa is a very beautiful country but politically it has had a very troubled history. Because it is home to so many different African peoples the White Government tried to impose a system, no known as Apartheid, by which each tribal group would have its own 'homeland'.


Sr. Marion with some of her African friends

The theory was that if people who are different from one another in language or culture were kept apart there would be no friction. Hence the term 'Apartheid' which means apartness. That of course is not true. Difference is a source of enrichment if properly handled. The other problem was that the cities including the gold and diamond mines were to be kept for white people. So there was a constant unrest in the country. Those who supported the cause of the African majority were harassed and sometimes killed. Fortunately all that has changed. The change over to African rule happened peacefully thanks to great people like Nelson Mandela, the first black president."

She returned to Ireland in 1986 to do a job for her congregation. She is now living in Wicklow working on a very interesting project. They have an organic farm and are developing and Ecology Centre to teach people about the need to care for the earth. That I am sure is another very interesting story.