Written and read by Sister Eleanor Capper

He Mihi mai I Otautahi – 

(Greetings from Christchurch)

Two roads diverged in a wood and I-

I took the road less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The life of all of us has its influence on others, with the above quotation from Robert Frost’s poem summing up the path taken by Sister Colette Forde well know, admired and loved by so many.

Sister Maureen Cahill was a lifelong friend but is now back living in Ireland.  So just two weeks ago Colette asked me to give the eulogy at her funeral as I was the one who knew her well. In 1982, the then Bishop of Christchurch decided to put two Catholic schools together because all the schools were to be integrated into the State system. Colette and I, together with other staff members managed to develop the new school on the site of the old Juniorate.  We worked together for seventeen years, Colette as a brilliant mathematics teacher, senior mistress and disciplinarian, with me as principal.  We faced many challenges, but Colette was loved by the students because she was firm but fair, with that Irish manner that captivated them all.  Despite having sight in only one eye she was renowned for noticing any kind of bad behaviour. I left in 1995 but she stayed on for another ten years, twenty-eight years of dedicated service in all.

It was fitting that she managed to come back to Christchurch in March 2024 to witness the opening of a new college, built after the devastating earthquakes that destroyed the college in North Parade.

Colette was Irish to the core. Born in County Mayo, Ireland on the 22nd August 1940, she was one of nine children with four sisters, Mary, Nora, Kathleen and Ann, and four brothers, Michael, Patrick, Liam and Gerard and grew up in a faith-filled family.

Some of her siblings were not born when she left home at the age of fourteen to join the Sisters of Charity, where she met Bridie Vaughan who later became Sister Maria Goretti. Both were unable to get visas to the USA because of their eyesight and were sent home.  Undeterred they decided to go to the juniorate in Newmarket in the hope of joining the Sisters of St Joseph in Australia. After two years there they left for Australia on the 20th of December 1956 with six others to join the congregation.

After being received as a postulant in Sydney she was sent to Warialda, in the north of New South Wales, where she spent a year teaching and learning what it was like to live in another country. In 1958 she went to the Novitiate and was professed on the 6th January, 1960.

However, despite being in Australia for three years, she was sent to New Zealand, along with Sister Maureen Cahill where they had to learn another culture.

Colette was a primary teacher for five years, teaching in Gisborne, Point Chevalier, Christchurch and Wairoa.  While in Wairoa Colete became acquainted with the Maori customs and loved to teach the children and visit Maori homes.

Nonetheless, it was in Christchurch in the South Island that was to be the place of ministry for most of her teaching career. After twenty-eight fruitful years at Marian College Colette retired and went back to Stillorgan in Dublin, Ireland to minister in the house of hospitality there for the next two years. She followed that by going to the Mother House in North Sydney, to welcome visitors and offer hospitality.

Over the years Colette visited all the members of her family both in Ireland and America and was sloe to them all, sharing in their lives and challenges as the years went by.

After a Sabbatical in Maynooth Colette gained a certificate in education and gained a great love of Scripture. Consequently, in the first reading she chose from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians we are reminded that “the one who began the good work among you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ” Colette has produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. Her faith in God never wavered no matter what adversity she suffered over the years as she always acknowledged Jesus Chsit as the “Way the truth and the life that would lead her to God.” 

Faith-filled, Colete has lived out her life of fidelity to the very end. She, with all of us, shared the faults and failings that go with being human, but her faith sustained her in every event in life. Like St Joseph, she faced with quiet courage all that was asked of her when grieving the death of siblings and companions in the congregation, or farewelling those who left to pursue other callings in life.

So, those of us gather here today with love in our hearts that you, Colette.  You have taken the road less travelled by and lived a faith-filled life that has made all the difference.  You have planted your seed inside our gates.  May it take root and flourish in our hearts and in our world.

May the road rise up to meet you

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and until we meet again,

My God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Article added: Wednesday 23 October 2024