Who we are
PrintWe are consecrated, apostolic, women Religious.
We are women of Mary Aikenhead, committed to radically and courageously living out the Gospel and our Constitutions.
As Sisters of Charity, in common with other Religious, we are called to follow Christ, to devote ourselves in a special way to the Lord.
Our following of Christ is consecrated in the Church by the public profession of the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
A fourth vow, to devote our lives under obedience to the service of the poor, gives a special character to our vocation.
The goal which we pursue by our religious life, and our service of the poor, is the greater glory of God, the Father, as it is to be achieved in Christ.
We can pursue our goal effectively only if we are aware of the need for our personal union with the crucified and risen Christ.
Our foundress, the Venerable Mary Aikenhead, in the light of contemporary needs, and in her wisdom, involved all classes of people in the realisation of this goal.
The inspiration of our foundress remains with us today.
Service of the poor – characterised by flexibility, courage, and dynamic awareness, in participating in the saving mission of the Church – remains with us as a living witness of the charism of the foundress.
What each of us gives to the future depends on our continuing, sensitive, and courageous response to the signs of the times, finding God in all things in the spirit of our motto Caritas Christi urget nos (2 Cor 5:14)… the love of Christ urges us.
Listen to the story of Mother Mary Aikenhead, foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity of Ireland, below. The reader is Sr Genevieve Walsh rsc.
Banner image on this page was taken at the Congregational Gathering, June 2018
Front row (l – r)
Srs Patricia Scully, Denise Hannebery, Maryanne Confoy, Elizabeth Dodds, Jennifer Fahey, Elizabeth Costigan, Jan O’Grady, Margaret Beirne, Christine Henry, Eileen Browne, Jeannie Johnston, Margaret Guy, Genevieve Walsh, Margaret Fitzgerald, Mary Frances Gould, Maureen Heffernan, Colleen McDonald, Kathleen Doohan, Anne Turner, Anne Mayberry
Second row
Srs Amanda Nguyen, Colleen Mills, Edith King, Rose Holman, Maureen Walters, Annette Cunliffe, Bishop Vincent Long O.F.M. Conv., Srs Clare Nolan, Pauline Staunton, Colleen Noonan, Dorothy Bayliss, Deirdre Hickey, Maria Wheeler, Teresita Marcelo
Third row
Srs Angela Burke, Claudette Palmer, Jean Montgomery, Gaye Reynolds, Margaret Sapsford, Suzette Clark, Helga Neidhart, Linda Ferrington, Mary Gabrielle Clarke, Pam Grime, Regina Millard, Judith Christy, Anna Maria Parlevliet, Maureen Delaney
Fourth row
Srs Karan Varker, Joan Stapleton, Loretta Bani, Virginia Wilkinson, Margaret Scully, Virginia Mahony, Leone Wittmack, Libbey Byrne, Laureen Dixon, Helen Clarke, Anne Taylor, Margaret Valentine, Adele Cottrell-Dormer, Cate O’Brien, Patricia Walker, Anthea Groves, Colleen Jackson