Founders’ Day Celebration: Inspiring Generations Globally for 168 Years

Head of School Jacqueline Landry opened the celebration with a warm welcome to our visiting Sisters, Sr. Joan Tracey, RSHM, Sr. Eileen Tuohy, RSHM, Sr. Pat Connor, RSHM, Sr. Mary Leah Plante, RSHM, and Sr. Phillipa O’Sullivan, RSHM, who joined us for today’s assembly. Ms. Landry continued, “Through incremental, community-based and unwavering steps, our RSHM sisters have had a wide-ranging and global impact, from founding schools all over the world to being invited to have a seat at the United Nations.” It was with warm pleasure, that she introduced Sr. Phillipa O’Sullivan, an inspiring member of the RSHM, whose ambitious work in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique for the past thirty years has touched hundreds of children’s lives.

 

Sr. Phillipa delivered a beautiful, humble and eye-opening presentation about her global education work. Since 1962 when she joined the RSHM, she has founded a school for children who are deaf, blind and intellectually disabled in Zambia, learned the local Zambian language of Tonga, helped train African teachers and doctors to work with children who were effected by HIV/AIDs, and helped fund and develop countless other educational projects in the area, amongst other accomplishments.

 

Our students were struck by the impact she has had in the Southern African region, all while fighting against immense odds to accomplish her goals. The countries where Sr. Phillipa have worked are torn apart by war and poverty, making educational ventures both incredibly challenging and essential to the well-being of the communities there. In this environment, she and her fellow RSHM sisters knew they had to persevere to bring their vision to life. “When you have that zeal, nothing can stop you and you just push forward,” she reflected. Zeal, defined as the burning in one’s heart to fight for justice and compassion with whatever gifts one possesses, is a characteristic that ties together the RSHM and has propelled the sisterhood’s work throughout these 168 years. Missionary work, Sr. Phillipa says, is simply “love without limits,” in which all of us possess.

 

Rebecca Bostic, Director of Spiritual Life, concluded the affair by reminding our community that it is essentially that we take the time to reflect on the fact that we are part of a larger family that spans globally. We are, indeed, the missionaries that all of our Sisters are, and we have the ability to enact change where we see the need. Following this eye-opening talk, our Marymount students filed out of Pavilion chatting joyfully about the amazing work being done by our Sisters worldwide. As the annual tradition goes, they shared cake in honor of the RSHM and all it does globally. Each member of our community developed a renewed appreciation for our founding order, the perseverance, zeal and gifts each Sister bless us and our broader community with, and the global impact of many, many small steps toward a more just and compassionate world.