Sister Stan: one of the greatest Kerry people of all time

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy was a saint of a woman, a kind, generous and driven person who devoted her life entirely to the service of others as a life-long expression of her faith in goodness and truth.

Born in Lispole in 1939, the young Treasa Kennedy, like so many of her contemporaries all over Ireland at the time, became a nun. She joined the Religious Sisters of Charity in her late teens, taking on the name Stanislaus, and went on to become, like Daniel O’Connell, one of the greatest Kerry people of all time.

She founded the homeless charity Focus Ireland almost exactly 40 years ago, motivated by the relatively large number of women in Dublin with no roof over their heads. People working with her at the time believed she couldn’t see why her charity should not have achieved its mission to end homelessness in 10 years. Job done.

Tragically, Sister Stan didn’t achieve her greatest working ambition which was to rid Ireland of homelessness and, in effect, put herself and her supporters out of business.

No doubt that was a great disappointment to her in her final years as she saw homelessness figures heading inexorably in the wrong direction. Now, matters are far worse compared to when she started her charity with homelessness figures today heading towards an incredible 17,000 people, including well over 5,000 children.

In many ways you could say that Ireland didn’t deserve Sister Stan, didn’t deserve her outrage at structural inequality and inadequate healthcare, didn’t deserve her love for people struggling to survive.

The political establishment took her for granted, bathing in her reflected goodness and then, after all those empty words, failed to act in a manner that made much of a difference.

Such shameful neglect is for them, alone, to bear.

In reality, however, things would be much worse if Sister Stan had decided to do something else with her truly extraordinary life.

As a moral leader, she demonstrated how doing the right thing is still important, how social justice is still worthy, how community has a responsibility to share with others less fortunate.

Anybody who was paying the slightest attention over the last 40 or 50 years always knew that Sister Stan was a most exceptional human being. There was nothing preachy or ‘talking down’ about her.

Her philosophy appeared to be entirely uncomplicated, based on what she clearly regarded as the simple principles of Christian love and charity. Sister Stan was a great woman, an inspiration and role model. She was a woman whose decency, hard work and life based on the best possible principles will be forever remembered.

She was a once-off, a wonderful human being. A shining example of our better selves.

Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

A dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.