Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan 120 years of history came to an end at Carriglea outside Dungarvan on July 2, when the last nuns at the Le Bon Sauveur said their goodbyes to Dungarvan, the area that they had lived and worked in for 120 years.
It was reported that the sister chapel was packed to capacity for a farewell Mass where the chief celebrant was the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan, who was joined at the altar by Msgr Willie Ryan PP (Dungarvan), Msgr Paddy Osbourne, Canon Brendan Crowley PE, Fr Conor Kelly, Fr Matt Cooney OSA , Fr John McEneaney and Deacon Hugh Nugent.
Bishop Cullinan in his homily told the packed congregation that “we have come here to offer this Mass of thanksgiving, to express our sincere gratitude to the sisters for all they have done, for all that you have done and to recount all that the Lord has done through them and through you, all those years of service to countless people in need of care, specialist care”.
Continuing, Bishop Cullinan said “but our celebration is marked with a drop of sadness because we are saying farewell to the sisters, who are so close to this community over the years. We are recounting the story of women with a vision who put their lives on the line in their determination to make hope a concrete thing and to make a vision a reality.
In many ways, Bishop Cullinan said this encompassed the values and ethos of the sisters whose work was not lost in busy schedules and workloads, but in the daily care of each person before them.
In 2022 with the number of vocations to the religious life having severely dropped, the community with a heavy heart made the decision to leave Carriglea after 120 years and move to more suitable living facilities as the convent in Carriglea was deemed too big for them to run, but remained to have a presence in and around the town of Dungarvan until now with a small number of retired sisters.