By Jason J. Marchi, Courier
Correspondent:
On Sept. 7, the
parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Hamden celebrated Sister Ann O’Neill’s 50th
anniversary as a Sister of Mercy.
“They had a
reception after all the masses, and at the 11:30 a.m. Sunday mass my brother,
who is a priest, said the mass with some other priests,” she says. During the
Sunday reception a bagpiper played, and after all of that, “the family and
close friends went out to dinner afterwards, so it was a long day of
celebrating. It was wonderful.”
Of the five siblings
in Sister Ann’s family—three girls and two boys—four followed a mutual calling
into religious service. While her two sisters are also Sisters of Mercy, Ann’s
brother answered a different calling and served as a police officer and a
police commissioner for the City of Bridgeport.
Sister Ann believes
the religious calling for her and her siblings came from her parents.
“They both came from
Ireland, met here, and taught us to always reach out to others, so we learned
it from them,” states the Connecticut native, who grew up in Bridgeport.
As director of
religious education at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Sister Ann works with
all the children in the parish, aged three and older. She notes that kids
today—as compared to decades ago—are involved in so many things there seems to
be less time to devote to religious learning.
She’s encouraged,
however, to see a closeness among many families, despite a modern world in
which people live very busy lives trying to keep career and home together, and
she feels that when families do things together it prevents kids from getting
into trouble.
To instill her
church children with the qualities of character that will make them into
responsible and caring adults, Sister Ann requires 20 hours of community service
from each child.
“Last year, some of
the kids from North Haven organized a collection drive for toiletries for Saint Ann’s soup kitchen.
They got big laundry baskets and put them outside their school classrooms. Then
they went down and stocked the shelves at [the] soup kitchen with all these
items they’d collected. So when the clients come in they can get toothpaste or
soap or shampoo,” Sister Ann says. She also notes the same group of North Haven children collected food outside of Stop &
Shop and served meals at the soup kitchen on a vacation day.
“I see young kids
reaching out and it’s really nice,” she says. “Sometimes you have to require
it. They’ll be like, ‘Oh, do I have to?’ And then, after they’ve done all their
hours [of community service] they’ll want to do more. Reaching out to help
other people, I think, is so good for them.”
When it comes to
prayer before going to bed, Sister Ann says “I always tell the kids, no matter
how busy you are, pray for at least one minute. Think of all the good things
and quietly thank God for that, and think of what was hard, or a problem, and
ask God to help you with those things.”
Reflecting on her
years of helping young people through the Roman Catholic Church, Sister Ann
says, “We never know what kids fear,” and recalls how one boy from the Hamden
High School football team came to her one dark, rainy night 12 years ago saying
he was scared and could he talk to her.
“I thought it was
some big problem he was having. He told me it was his first football game and
would I pray for him. I said ‘sure.’ The next week he came with his buddy, and
those two came to me for a year, before every game, to pray with me. I always
would say to them I pray that you don’t get hurt, that you do your best, and
don’t get into trouble. I don’t want to read your name in the paper unless it’s
in the sports page. The following year he brought the whole team.”
Pictured: For the past 18 years, Sister Ann O’Neill has guided young lives as
director of religious education at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Hamden, and her service to youth includes teaching many North Haven children and their families.
Photo by Jason
J. Marchi
To nominate a
Person-of-the-Week, email Jason Marchi at j.marchi@shorepublishing.com or call
203-245-1877, ext. 6166.