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Sister Mary Jose Gallagher
Born to life: 2 December 1918
Born to eternal
life: 27 April 2006
Reflections on the Life and Death of
Sister Mary José (Dawn) Gallagher
Homily at the Funeral Mass: Catherine White, Congregational
Leader
 On
Easter Day the women who had prepared spices and ointments arrived at
the tomb to find it empty. “The body was not there.” Two
angels asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Terrified,
the women ran to tell the men who did not believe them. They too
ran to the grave and seeing there only the empty burial cloths, they
went home amazed.
French theologian Louis-Marie Chauvel says that one
of the misunderstandings of that Easter day was the disciples’ desire
to seek and to find the body of Jesus – their wish to cling on
to the person they had known. “But”, says Chauvel, “clinging
on to the body of Jesus would require that they remain in the emptiness
of the tomb.”
The death of a loved one can find us in that place also – wishing
and longing for their presence – for life to be just the same. But
it cannot be.
The Emmaus story reminds us that as that Easter day progressed the disciples
discovered that Jesus, now absent, was also present – for he remained
with them in a new way. He was present in the story, in God’s
Word explained, and he was there in the breaking of bread.
He was present in a new way when his friends journeyed together and
shared their broken dreams and lost hope.
This discovery that the Lord was still with them compelled them to spin
around and return to Jerusalem the place of suffering … the place
of ministry, to tell the story of God’s love and goodness in Jesus,
the Risen One.
We too know the pain of that empty place. We know the pain of
not having the physical presence of José with us – her smile, her
openness to God’s plan for her, her courageous acceptance of suffering,
her deep and gracious love for each one of us, her sisters, and her family
and friends particularly Crea. We will miss her trusting faith
in the presence and power of Jesus in her life. Her often spoken words – God
is so good.
The Emmaus story reminds us of José’s life – she too found
the presence of Jesus in the Scriptures, in prayer, in the Eucharist,
and in the community of Sisters to whom she so generously gave her life – from
15 to 87 … over 70 years.
Her sisters spoke last Friday about the respect with which she too greeted
the stranger: my favourite story is of the time she met a thief who
had broken into the convent. José went to the superior and informed
her that there was a gentleman in her bedroom. Jose looked for
Christ’s face in the face of the stranger – the thief, a
needy parishioner, in all those she served while on mission. And
like the disciples her great desire was always to tell that story, that
good news, with great joy.
The first reading from the Song of Songs helps us to understand the
presence of Jesus in José’s life. The intimate imagery of
ride and bridegroom, and lover and beloved spoke to her heart. This
was the reading she chose for her golden jubilee. It was her wish
to thank her beloved for his faithful and loving presence with her across
those fifty years of faithful living. Today we call it to mind
to thank God for the gift of her life to us and for God’s goodness
to her and to us through her.
We hear in that reading the voice of Christ calling her now:
"Arise
my love, my fair one and come away;
For
now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.”
And indeed we are happy that her time of pain and suffering are at an
end. And we can hear her voice too in the eager words:
"Let me see your face, let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.”
I can hear her now saying to each one of us with boundless happiness:
“My
beloved is mine and I am his;
He
pastures me now among the lilies.”
We know that
José went to meet Christ eager and ready to be with the love of her
life … at peace.
José, when I looked at the details of your life I noticed that you did
not have the opportunity for much education. And yet I knew you to be
a wise and learned woman. Perhaps you did not write books, or preach
learned sermons, but your life had taught us about what is really important
in life, and about what ultimately brings true happiness and peace.
You taught us about love and so you have taught us about God. The
gentle beauty of your life has been a living witness to each one of us
about the love of the God into whose loving embrace we now commend you.
Pray for us as we do now for you. May you rest always in love and in
peace.
Reflections on the Life and Death
of Sr Mary José Gallagher:
Sr Crea
Gallagher mfic (José’s sister) and Sr Moya Byrne
mfic
Sr
M José was born in Kedron on 2 December 1918, the elder
daughter of Andrew and Essie Gallagher. They christened her Dawn and,
as the Kedron parish was not yet created, she was baptised at their parish,
Holy Cross, Wooloowin. José’s father died when she was only
six. Her one sister, Crea, is also a Missionary Franciscan Sister.
Dawn and Crea were among the first pupils of St Anthony’s School,
Kedron in 1930, but Dawn had already made her first communion being prepared
for this by laywomen of the newly created parish. Arriving at her
new school, José was in Sister Mary Agnella’s class and
here the impressionable eleven year old student was fired by the missionary
ardour of the twenty year old Agnella who later was to lead the sisters’ mission
to New Guinea.
The new parish had been named for St Therese of Lisieux and this saint
seems to have had an influence on Dawn for while still 15 years of age
she obtained permission from her mother to leave after completing her
Junior class at All Hallows, and, in February of the next year, set off
for the novitiate in Rome to fulfil her missionary dream. She went with
the returning Sister Mary Scholastica, and the story goes that Dawn,
anxious to begin her religious life, followed all the religious exercises
on the ship, so that it was decided to count the six weeks of the journey
by ship as part of her candidacy and she was received into the Franciscan
order and clothed with the habit on 25 August 1935.
In the novitiate José met girls from England and Ireland, likewise
preparing for the missions. José obviously created quite a splash
for, to this day you can encounter sisters in United States and other
parts of the world, and at the name “José” a dreamy
light will come into their eyes and they will say “Tangmalangaloo”.
José loved the poems of John O’Brien and must have recited
the poem about the bishop’s visit and the “two-storied lad” from
Tangmalangaloo. Doubtless even though she used her best elocution
techniques, these Irish girls were bemused by the Australian bush culture
portrayed.
On 25 August 1938, José made her profession and to her delight
was missioned to Sacred Heart College, Alexandria, Egypt. Many
British soldiers were stationed there at the time, and José loved
to tell us in her later life how proud she was of the Australian soldiers
who called to the convent for a cup of tea. The day before she
died she watched the Anzac Day Parade and as always delighted in the
stories of heroism. But for José in Egypt the clouds of war were
forming and she was called back to her native land.
José began to teach in the newly founded Bardon School in January
1939. At this time José, in her turn, was preparing many
children for the sacraments. She always recalled this time with
great joy. Her next call was not to the foreign missions as she
hoped. Instead she was asked to train the future sisters at Kedron. Here
from 1947 to 1964 she was the novice mistress and in these years helped
the majority of the Australian sisters of the province to fulfil their
Franciscan ideal.
In 1965 she left for Fatima in the Torricelli Mountains of Papua New
Guinea, a foreign missionary again! José spent nearly 10 years
in PNG and then continued her pastoral ministry in Kedron, Coolangatta,
Kingston, Loganlea, North Rockhampton, Evans Head and Pottsville from
1975 until 1997 when she retired to Kedron. In 2003 José went to live
in the Holy Spirit Home in Carseldine.
Like St Francis who was simple is his wholehearted response to the love
he experienced in God, José was also a simple soul in this respect.
Inspired in her early teens with the dream of giving her life to God
as a Franciscan Missionary she never wavered. She was assiduous
in everything she did, most energetic in working for the Lord. Living
in community with her we would complain, “You never stop!” This
first fervour never really left her. In her last years, even though
physical strength diminished, she never lost the directness of her gaze
on the Lord. Just as she was simple in her early determination
to give her life to God, in her last days she went in complete serenity
to God.
José impressed all she met with her gentle loving manner. She
was guileless in her dealings with others but no fool. She was
very easy to tease. She always believed what we said and had trouble
in seeing through deviousness. She was too earnest to have that
sort of a sense of humour. Yet she did have a sense of fun and
of course when we tricked her we were immediately forgiven. She
could laugh at herself.
José did not have the opportunity for advanced education. Yet
we knew her to be a wise and learned woman. Her life taught others
about what is really important in life, and about what ultimately brings
true happiness and peace. She taught us about zeal, fidelity and
love and so she taught us about God. The gentle beauty of her life
has been a living witness to us of the love of the God in whose loving
embrace she now rests.
The reading from the Song of Songs which was read at her funeral was
the reading she chose for her golden jubilee. It helps us to understand
the presence of Jesus in her life. The intimate imagery of bride
and bridegroom, of lover and beloved spoke to her heart. We call
it to mind to thank God for the gift of her life to us and for God’s
goodness to her, and to us through her. We know that José went
to meet Christ eager and ready to be with the love of her life. She was
at peace.
José, pray for us as we do now for you. May you rest always in love and
in peace.
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