Holy Faith Sisters release first book

Characteristic

11 hours ago

The Sisters of the Congregation of the Holy Faith (CHF) will present their first book, “Presence and Action” on November 26 at 11 am in Couva. This year the CHF Sisters will celebrate the 75th anniversary of their founding in Trinidad.

A press release in December 1947 said that this congregation from Glasnevin, Ireland, was establishing a foundation in Woodbrook, as reported in the Catholic News of December 27, 1947.

“Presence and Action” began when Sister Monica McSherry, the Superior General, Sr. Colmcille Kilgallon and the first seven Irish religious sisters arrived and immediately established schools throughout the island. The original 1946 letter of invitation to the congregation came from Archbishop Finbarr Ryan.

This book includes extracts from the nuns’ 75-year archive, including personal letters, minutes of meetings and personal photographs. The book is arranged chronologically by decade and geographically maps their work in Trinidad, from Woodbrook to places such as Cuva, Siparia, Penal, Sangre Grande, Valencia, Moruga, Pembroke Street, St Ann and Matelot.

Prepared and compiled by archivist Dr. Quinn Johnson, this historical record draws from their many documents and is supplemented by personal interviews with the Sisters in Trinidad. It is a tapestry between the formal and the ordinary that weaves together several stories about the work of these religious sisters.

The publication says that this book sets the national record for the work of about 70 women. It adds to the cultural conversation their contribution to education in Trinidad, starting in 1947 until today.

Another key theme is social justice, which finds expression not only in education in both urban and rural Trinidad, but also in places such as East Port of Spain and the Remand Yard at Port of Spain Prison.

Archbishop Robert Rivas OP will be present to mark the importance of these archives, the release said.