Ahead of International Women’s Day and as part of a feature spotlighting the stories of inspirational women, Spirit Radio’s Lydia O’Kane interviewed Misean Cara Board Vice Chair, Sr Josephine McCarthy (Presentation Sisters) about her life and experiences as a missionary Sister. “We’re celebrating the incredible work of missionaries and women who lay their lives down, often travelling very far from home to some of the most dangerous and vulnerable places in the world” says O’Kane.
To listen to the full interview click here.
Over the course of the interview, Sr Jo was asked to share her impressions of the impact that being a missionary has had on her own life, on the rewards of working with and helping other that she encountered during her 20 years of missionary work in Ecuador and Peru:
“It has been extraordinarily rewarding. I would have to say that my 20 years in South America was life-changing in every sense, personally, meeting people from other cultures, in the development of my own faith, and it has coloured the rest of my life. Since I came home from South America I have been running the past 20 years a drop-in centre for migrants, here in Ireland, supporting people, particularly refugees and people in direct provision with their integration here. All of this has been shaped my experience by my life as a missionary.”
Sr Jo also shared her insights on what can be learned today from the generations of women who have gone out as missionaries from Ireland in the past and in recent decades and concluded by emphasising the very real importance of having a day such as International Women’s Day to put a spotlight on the issues and challenges that women still face in achieving equality. “Women’s Day is very important. We are seeing across the world even today how easy it is for women to lose the rights that they have earned. It’s about equality, that women have their rightful place in society and their own voice, and I think we can never ignore what a privilege that is.”
