WelCom May 2019:
Sr Stephanie Kitching rsm
Patricia O’Donnell, former staff member of St Catherine’s College and writer of a history of St Catherine’s Primary High School on the Hill.
Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, had a saying she offered those of us who follow after her: ‘Put your whole confidence in God.’
This is something that Patricia O’Donnell, a former staff member at St Catherine’s College, Kilbirnie, lives out. Quite some many years ago Sr M Philippa McManus invited her to write up the history of St Catherine’s Primary High School which was started in 1918. But where do you get source material for that? Patricia has spent endless hours trawling archives and interviewing past students. The result of this endeavour is a highly interesting account, often using direct quotations, of the early years at St Catherine’s.
On Saturday 13 April her book The School on the Hill: Memories of Pupils at St Catherine’s Convent School was launched at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, Kilbirnie. The book has been enthusiastically received as an important contribution to the early days of the Church in this area. It is a paperback liberally illustrated with photographs of historic interest. Please contact Patricia at triciao2285@gmail.com if you would like a copy. The cost is $25 plus $5 postage.
If you are a past student or staff member of the college and would like to celebrate 100 years since the first school building on the site, please come to the High Tea on Saturday 22 June, 1pm–4.30pm, at the college. The cost is $15. Please contact Sister Stephanie on email skit2@xtra.co.nz to register.