Sabina Mary Imelda (Nina) Dooley was born in Shrule, Co Mayo in 1910 into a family of fourteen. Growing up as she did so near Dalgan where her oldest brother, John, was a Columban seminarian, she was a regular reader of the Far East which enabled her to follow with interest the Columban missionary effort in China. Influenced by what she read, she applied to enter with the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban in Cahiracon in 1928. Taking the religious name of Sr. Mary Berchmans, she was chosen to be in the first group of Columban Sisters to make a foundation in the USA.
A few years later saw her in Nancheng, China during the invasion by the Japanese. When the people fled to the hills, she was among the Sisters and Columban priests who remained to care for the elderly and children who had been left behind. After the war, she was to cross the Pacific Ocean once again to spend a few years teaching in California. Then followed assignments to England and then Scotland where she was awarded the Diocesan Medal of Honour for ‘service generously rendered of high quality.’
I first got to know Sr. Mary Berchmans in 1970 on my first ministry assignment at the Columban Seminary in Dalgan Park in Ireland. She was the Community Superior there and I still give thanks for the blessing of, in a way starting out on mission in the gentle company of this missionary woman. Though small in stature and gentle in manner, she was strikingly authentic and completely missionary in all aspects of her life. Her inner motto seemed to be ‘to serve.’ This she did with deep respect for every person in community and in ministry with the domestic staff as well as among the Columban brothers, priests and seminarians for whom ‘the College’ was home. The quiet influence of Mother Berchmans, as she was called in those days, spread out to neighbours as well as to visitors and our families.
I still remember her each night tapping away on the old typewriter, preparing the prayers for the following morning’s Mass, post Vatican II when we were adapting to the use of the vernacular and receiving and extending the sign of peace. Being gifted artistically and a home maker, she brought life to the convent and college with her magnificent floral arrangements, roses when in season and with artificial flowers in the winter months. She gave great attention to small details in a very unfussy manner.
She was an ever-present encouraging presence to those among us who were ministering in the College. While she was ready to help whenever and wherever needed, she never interfered in the responsibility of any Sister. We benefitted from her vast experience and wisdom gleaned from the USA, China and right across the Congregation and her gentle kindness which endeared her to all with whom she came in contact.
