Sr. Clare Crockett Dear Editor, I was very moved by the description of Sr Clare Crockett by the curate from her Derry parish (IC 21/04/2016), following her tragic death in the earthquake in Equador. She sounded like a very inspirational woman who had an interesting faith story and her parish is rightly proud of her example and witness to others.
She obviously had a lot of love and energy to give and she died as she lived, trying to save the lives of others. She is a great loss to the Church and to the world at large.
Another aspect to her story that gives me sadness is the fact that she joined a religious congregation outside Ireland. It makes me wonder how many young, vibrant, faith-filled people like Sr Clare we are losing to other countries, because they cannot find a place that fulfils them within the Irish Church.
It was good to read in your recent special edition for Vocations Sunday (14/04/2016) that religious congregations are exploring new ways to communicate with young people and have a new enthusiasm for sharing their faith stories. I hope this new drive will be successful and young people will come to see the reality of how much positive and worthwhile work goes on within the Church, beyond the stereotypes that they are exposed to in the media today.
Yours etc.,
Thomas O’Reilly,
Dundalk, Co. Louth.