Mollie chats with a future teacher during teaching practice.

In the library of Moroto Teachers’ College.

Mollie Ahern rscj

My family was of Irish extraction on both sides, and helped pioneer the pastoral industry of the Queensland, Australia. My father, however, moved to the capital where he married my mother in the early 1930's. I was the elder of two girls born to them. Sadly, they had just five years of marriage before my mother's death. Some years later, my father married again. Our stepmother had been one of the first pupils enrolled in the Society's school, Stuartholme, so we children were duly enrolled there, though not at first on the Stuartholme site, then a hospital for the American forces in the Pacific.

I loved my 9 years under the care of wonderful nuns, and then went on to University. As I was finishing my Degree, I wrote to the Vicar of the Australian and New Zealand Province and asked to enter the Society. I wanted to live my God-given life in a serious way, and with similarly motivated companions. Alas, memories of my cheekiness at school led to a negative answer, and I was informed that my vocation was to marriage.

The following year our family spent travelling abroad. This did not help my cause, as it suggested a certain carefreeness, I came to hear. However, I could not accept a "no", so I wrote my plea to one of my rscj teachers of yesteryear. Her Superior read the letter, and from her long experience as Mistress of Novices, declared I had one of the clearest vocations she'd seen. So I received a new message informing me I had a vocation, and I entered at Rose Bay in February 1957.

I haven't "looked back", as they say. In the mid-seventies, after some years teaching Literature and Modem History to secondary students in Australia, I asked to be allowed to serve overseas where help was needed with education, and was posted to what was then the Vice-Province of Uganda/Kenya. There I spent 25 years, enormously grateful for the chance to live our internationality, to offer what I could to the people, and receive from them.

I was to replace a British rscj and teach at Nkozi Teachers' College not far from the capital. However, Idi Amin, President of Uganda, had just declared the country self-sufficient with regard to teachers of the Humanities, so the Provincial Council directed me pro tem to Karamoja in the north-east of the country. I would be brought down when he had forgotten the issue and I could then apply for a Work Permit. In Karamoja I found "P.c." one of the founding members of the Vice-Province, and an Argentinean and an English rscj, and began teaching in the secondary school of a new Congregation for men founded by the Italian Bishop of the diocese. When Helen McLaughlin, the Vice-Provincial, came around two weeks later, I asked if I could stay where I was, and that was agreed to.

Thus began years of teaching in the Catholic-founded Primary Teachers' College which served students from several Districts, all fresh from Primary School themselves. It was a poor but beautifully-run College, and I found my place teaching English and Christian Education. I am no linguist, alas.

Except for Administrative Centres like our little town, Karamoja was mostly peopled by semi¬nomadic, polygamous, warrior cattle-keepers, with whom, at the time, our community was not directly connected, but by the end of the year we were joined by a Spanish rscj very experienced in village pastoral work and gifted for languages. The new few years saw the development of this pastoral work and of health work, as other rscj came to the community.

In 1979, President Amin was overthrown, and we experienced the wild flight of his soldiers from our local barracks, and the arrival of Tanzanian soldiers. The next two years brought famine conditions, and foreign Aid Agencies of varying quality, and with huge sums of money to spend. It was dizzying.

In 1982, the diocese held a Synod and reorganized itself. I became "Education Secretary" and a member of the diocesan Social Services and Development Committee. These were absorbing responsibilities which stretched my mind and my heart. Just after this, I had the privilege of attending the Society's General Chapter, which worked on the new Constitutions.

I took long leave in 1986, and was hardly back in '87, when I was asked to be Provincial. Accepting this required me to leave beloved Karamoja for the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and later for western Kenya.

This period was privileged for me, as we were taking decisions re the education of the young Ugandan and Kenyan rscj. With the trust of the Central Council, and the generosity of the Provinces of Ireland/Scotland, the United States, and England/Wales in particular, but many others as well, our Provincial Council set out to prepare our young Sisters for this rapidly changing modern world, the scene of their ministries. Looking back, I see that was timely.

1988 saw me at the General Chapter in Rome, and then in 1994 my service as Provincial concluded. It was unexpectedly followed by attendance at the General Chapter in Canada, and return to the Uganda/Kenya Province to report thereon. Then to Australia for long leave. Back in Karamoja, one last ministry was asked of me - to be Chancellor for the newly appointed Bishop, a role I carried out for the next three years. Finally, I asked to be missioned back to Australia, for family reasons.

I simply loved my privileged time in the Province of Uganda/Kenya, experiencing a steady joy in the Society's mission, whether among the Karimojong or elsewhere in East Africa. This life, shared with rscj from 13 or more nationalities, challenged me deeply. I had great confidence in the leadership of the Society throughout, and the renewal of theology effected by and after Vatican 2 nourished my spirit. Working closely with the local Church was another privilege. So I look back and I thank God that I managed to persuade that powers that were, to try me out for the Society those many years ago!

Nowadays I do the things that retired people tend to do, e.g. helping in a St Vincent de Paul Family Support Centre, and home-tutoring in English for refugees. I love both opportunities, and also those which allow me to travel with laity exploring the riches of contemporary spirituality.

Mollie Ahern rscj
province of Australia – New Zealand