Sr. Maureen Bailey was laid to rest on Friday (Pic: Mary Browne)
NEW ROSS is in mourning this week following the passing of St. Maureen Bailey, 1 Tower Grove, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday in the New Houghton Hospital.
Sr. Maureen was Reqiaum Mass was held on Friday in the Parish Church where local school children formed a Guard of Honour marking her life spent devoted to educating young people in the town.
Synonymous with St. Joseph’s Girls’ School, Sr. Maureen served as Principal in the school for many years and was a valued member of the teaching staff there.
The size of the congregation that gathered in the Parish Church on Friday was reflective of the regard in which St. Maureen was held.
The mourners were told by Fr. Thomas Kehoe that when St. Maureen entered the Order of Mercy nuns in South Street, New Ross, 61 years ago the order had spread to “every continent on the planet” bringing with them education, healthcare and a willingness to spread the gospel.
Fr. Kehoe praised Sr. Maureen for carrying on the work of Order of Mercy founder, Catherine McCauley, over the last six decades.
The mourners were told about one of the Articles of the Mercy constitution which states that mercy is ‘the call and heritage which forms, and reforms, our lives’.
Renowned for her enthusiasm and unwavering dedication to any task she set herself to Sr. Maureen was, as the mourners were reminded on Friday, someone who lived her life to its fullest “with an enthusiasm that was almost infallible”.
“She spent so many years of dedication to St. Joseph’s primary school and the education of so many young girls from the town,” said Fr. Kehoe.
“She enabled a place of learning and formation; a place to encourage the gift of each person,” he added.
“For all of her enthusiasm and brashness, and at times, loudness, the quiet way in which Sr. Maureen helped so many was just a gift to so many people.”
He praised the way she had organised the Rainbows Programme for children who suffered a bereavement and “pulled together so many volunteers over so many years”.
Fr. Kehoe went on to say: “I think of her many years of spiritual formation and in her latter years of the time she spent in Knock.”
The mourners were told the St. Maureen had enriched the lives of “many people” in so many different ways.
At the beginning of the mass symbols representing aspects of her life were brought to top of the church including a trophy that was won on a number of occasions through her involvement with drama, a prayer book, Rosary beads, a copy of Order of Mercy Constitution, family photographs, a prayer book of liturgical music and an atlas – to reflect her love of travel.
Following the mass a Guard of Honour was formed by pupils from the now amalgamated St. Joseph’s, CBS and Michael Street national schools and as the funeral cortège made its way up Michael Street it stopped briefly outside St. Joseph’s Primary School where St. Maureen had devoted so much of her time.
Her remains were then brought to St. Stephen’s Cemetery for burial.
Sr. Maureen was predeceased by her parents, Andy and Margaret, and by her sister, Kathleen.
She is survived by her sister, Anne, relatives, friends and the Order of Mercy nuns in New Ross.
The Echo extends sympathies to the bereaved.
