At an evening Mass on 25th September Sr. Kathleen Buckley received the Gold Medal and Papal Award of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. Apparently, this is “the highest honour a lay person or Religious can receive in the Church”. Congratulations to who? Well, Fr John Riley said “the award is not just about a person but a family” and both he and Sr. Kathleen herself, insisted “ Congratulations “ also belongs to all those who had been part of her life’s journey: her Religious and own family, friends, former colleagues, altar servers, families she visits, parishioners , people she networks with in the wider community, so many of whom packed the Church that in evening.
Fr Sean Riley, main celebrant and proposer, spoke warmly of the first years of his priesthood in the Parish when Sister Kathleen and Father Kevin were there, as “the happiest years of my priesthood”.
He spoke of her smile and encouragement as well as her dedication to our motto “that all may have life” . How he learned so much from her, and experienced in her two attributes important in our journey of synodality today : listening to everyone and including everyone. How evident that was in those gathered together this evening, people from her Young Christian Workers (YCW) days , Speke and places further afield to priests and folk from the locality . Eight RSHM came including from Pen and London . It was for all of us ,and others not present , that Kathleen said she accepted the award.
To conclude the more formal part of the evening, Fr John Henry Fisher ( who had known Sr. Kathleen since her YCW days) invited us to join in a song about Kathleen, focusing on her ability to tackle a number of emergency situations that might arise to which the refrain was, of course, “ Oh Sr Kathleen that”s another job for you”. This was sung with much gusto, joy and thanksgiving as we made our way to refreshments.
