Fifty years ago, August 6, 1960, in County Cork of Ireland, a young woman made a vow of chastity, obedience and poverty. She chose to follow Jesus with her whole heart, soul, strength and mind. It is hard to imagine how such a simple vow would influence my own life so profoundly. But that is another story for another time.

Eugene and Nora O’Hea gave birth to Hanora Patricia O’Hea, their sixth child on April 1, 1939 in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland. The family worked a farm that is still in the family to this day. On Sept 24, 1957 Patricia entered the Convent of Mercy Clonakilty on the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy. This was the same school that she attended as a child. So at just 17 years of age, Patricia began a journey through life that would change millions of lives with her simple love of Jesus and his mother, Mary. She would become a true instrument of God’s peace. Come journey with me.

Ireland and Italy sent us here in America millions of souls over the last 120 years. Most came through Ellis Island in New York. The federal immigration station on Ellis Island processed nearly three quarters of all immigrants entering the country in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Three of my grandparents came through New York. My grandmothers from Ireland and Sicily were both only a tender 15 years old when they left their homes and families. The youngest children of Mary Josephine (Crowley) Duffy and Teresa (Tangusso) Camarda would one day meet and marry just outside of Boston in 1992. My grandmothers both arrived in America the same year, 1905, and both suffered the death of one of their parents in the same year. Even if they were to return home, it would never be the same. My Irish grandmother would never return home and my Italian grandmother would suffer the death of her husband when she was the mother of five children below the age of ten.

When Patricia entered the convent at 17, even though she was still in Ireland, she would be at the mercy of her superiors and was dead to the world. Patricia would receive the habit and the name Sister Perpetual on August 5, 1958. She made her Profession on August 6, 1960. She made her Final Profession on August 6, 1963 and by the end of that month she arrived at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jacksonville Florida. Imagine the heat in Florida before there was air conditioning while wearing the long habit!

So often we look at the Irish missionary priests and sisters as foreigners, and yet Patricia arrived in Florida eleven years before my family moved here from Massachusetts! There have been articles written about “the gift of the Irish” and many of us Catholics have been nourished by their generous love and nurturing of the Sacraments. They made Jesus Christ come alive for us by giving us the education and tools to seek other shores.

In 1985, Sister Patricia began a ministry at St. Joan of Arc in Boca Raton and then returned in 1990 to Sacred Heart in Jacksonville to head up the RCIA and liturgical ministries in the parish. Poor Sister Patricia then encountered a very wet behind the ears, recently ordained, immature priest in 1991. He would be a challenge unlike anything she had ever imagined. His enthusiasm and zeal were unnerving and yet loving and kind. Within two years he would be sent to Japan with the military chaplaincy. However, before he left, he introduced her to ministry and love of the poor in Haiti.

Seven years later, this now practically bald priest invited Sister Patricia to become the pastoral assistant at St. Patrick’s in the north Jacksonville. She would join Sister Carmel while continuing to live at Sacred Heart Convent. From 2001 until 2008 Sister Patricia infused into St. Patrick’s church and school a sense of great love of Jesus, the liturgy, and a profound love of the poor. She even journeyed with her crazy friend who happened to be her pastor to a marvelous and difficult ten days in Haiti. She totally understood and promoted the mission statement of the parish:

We at St. Patrick’s Church are the face of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church in north Jacksonville centered on Eucharist. We hold these core values:

1. Ongoing Conversion to Jesus Christ (We are never done learning)
2. Hospitality (All are welcome!)
3. Stewardship (Time, talent, treasure and faith)
4. Solidarity with the Poor (Sticking up for the poor!)

Sister Patricia knew in her heart, that if someone desired to be a full member of the Catholic Church and of St. Patrick’s, they would never be at peace unless they embraced this mission statement in its entirety. This is what it means to be a Sister of Mercy; it is part of their charisma and soul as established by their foundress, Blessed Catherine McAuley.

When the pastor was suddenly recalled to go to Iraq in the summer of 2004, he knew it grieved Sister Patricia greatly. He knew he would never return as the pastor, but he also knew that he would remain an intimate friend and sojourner with Christ. While in the heart of the Iraq war, the pastor kept of the terrifying details away from her. She didn’t realize how invaluable her love and support was during those 40 weeks in the desert. Sister Patricia stayed on at St. Patrick’s until 2008 when she reluctantly retired for health reasons.

When Sister Patricia returned to Ireland for about a year, it was like something beautiful, something mysterious, and something gentle was missing from the Diocese of St. Augustine. Although most of her family and the Irish Mercy Sisters are in Ireland, we still need this beautiful and lovely soul here in the Diocese of St. Augustine. We really are your family too!

I, that crazy pastor, want Sister Patricia to know how much we love her, appreciate her, and will continue to be great stewards of her profession she made over fifty years ago on the Feast of the Transfiguration. Always come home. Home is with those who love you. We are full of gratitude for 50 years of Sister Patricia O’Hea!!!

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

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ISLE OF HOPE, ISLE OF TEARS

On the first day of January

Eighteen Ninety two

They opened Ellis Island

And they let the people through

And the first to cross the threshold

Of the Isle of hope and tears

Was Annie Moore from Ireland

Who was all of fifteen years

Isle of hope, Isle of tears

Isle of Freedom, Isle of fears

But it’s not the Isle

You left behind

That Isle of hunger, Isle of pain

Isle you’ll never see again

But the Isle of home

Is always on your mind

In her little bag she carried

All her past and history

And her dreams for the future

In the land of liberty

And courage is the passport

When your old world disappears

‘cos there’s no future in the past

when you’re fifteen years

Chorus

When they closed down Ellis Island

In nineteen forty three

Seventeen million people

Had come there for sanctuary

And in springtime when I came here

And stepped onto it’s piers

I thought of how it must have been

When you’re only fifteen years

Chorus

The Isle of home

Is always on your mind

(Words and Music by Brendan Graham, Acorn Music Ltd.)

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