Irish Loreto Missionary Sister Orla Treacy to receive international humanitarian award

Sr Orla & pupils at Loreto Secondary School Rumbek

The 2017 Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award will be given to Sister Orla Treacy, a Loreto Sister working in South Sudan. Sr Orla, from Bray, Co Wicklow, will be presented with the award by Cllr Niall Kelleher, Mayor of Killarney Municipal Authority on Saturday, 4 November at an award ceremony in the Killarney Avenue Hotel, Killarney.

Over the past few months nominations have been invited for people or organisations, which have displayed the same humanitarian ideals and principals as the Monsignor and who would be deserving of this award. A shortlist of five nominees was considered by an independent adjudication panel and it was agreed that Sr Orla would receive the award for 2017.

Sr Orla’s studied at the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin, and subsequently taught in Presentation College Cork, Loreto Letterkenny, St. Muredach’s College, Ballina, and Loreto Crumlin.

Having spent a summer in India with the Loreto sisters, at the age of 24 she decided to join the congregation. Based at the Loreto convent in Rathfarnham, she was professed as a Loreto nun in September 2005. A year later she headed to Sudan with four other Loreto nuns to establish a mission in a diocese the size of Italy with just two secondary schools.

She has spent the last 11 years in Sudan, experiencing the trauma of South Sudan becoming an autonomous independent state in 2011 which was followed by civil war in 2013. Today, South Sudan is widely considered one of the most fragile states in the world with continuing conflict and unrest. The violence has resulted in the displacement of thousands of people and has stunted the progress of this young country. Lakes State has become home to many displaced people.

Sr. Orla is the Principal of Loreto Secondary School in Rumbek in Lakes State which has 200 girl students who are boarders because it is too dangerous for them to travel long distances to and from the school. Adopting the missionary holistic approach, Sr. Orla and her team give responsibility to the girls, for example, tasks like looking after their class, equipment, the farm or animals, or looking after the young students in the primary school, or measuring the food or organising the dining room. The adjacent Loreto Primary School has 500 pupils but could have 1,000 if they had the accommodation.

Chairperson of the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Committee, Jerry O’Grady said: “Sr Orla possesses and displays the bravery and humanitarian commitment we have come to associate with the recipients of this award. At a young age and with a bright future ahead of her in Ireland, she decided instead to dedicate her life to those in need in what was already then a virtual war zone”

When told that she had been selected for the Hugh O’Flaherty Humanitarian Award, Sr Orla said: “The work of Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty has inspired so many in their fight against injustice and for the protection of vulnerable populations. I am genuinely very humbled to receive this award. On behalf of Loreto Sisters, our supporters, and all our staff at Loreto Rumbek South Sudan, I graciously accept this honour. The girls and young people we work with fill us with hope for a better future for this country.”

In 2016, the award recipient was Fr Shay Cullen – a Columban missionary who established the PREDA Foundation in Olongapo City in the Philippines in 1974 to promote human rights, justice and peace. His mission for justice and peace is ecumenical and open to people of all faiths. It is based on taking a stand for human rights and protecting the dignity of every person, in particular exploited women and children. Fr Shay has just published a novel to highlight human rights violations in the Philippines.

Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty

This year marks the tenth year of the memorial commemoration of the Monsignor which is organised to raise awareness of the humanitarian work carried he carried out during World War II. Together with his colleagues in the Rome Escape Line, he saved over 6,500 people from the clutches of the Nazis who had occupied Rome at the time. In October 2013 - the 50th anniversary of the Monsignor’s death - a permanent memorial to him was unveiled in Killarney town centre. The memorial is a life-size sculpture of him by Valentia based artist, Alan Ryan Hall. In May 2016, a plaque commemorating him was unveiled at the German College, Vatican City, Rome where he lived from 1938 until 1960 and from where he organised the Rome Escape Line.

Hugh O’Flaherty was awarded the highest honours including a CBE, the Congressional Medal of Freedom, and was the first Irish man named Notary of the Holy Office. When he died in 1963, his death was mourned throughout the world, including a personal tribute in the New York Times. The Gregory Peck film – The Scarlet and the Black – featured his life, as does the book – The Vatican Pimpernel – written by Brian Fleming

The Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Society

In 2008, the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Society was formed in his home town of Killarney. It was decided we should honour his memory by acknowledging his humanitarian works during the 1930’s in Haiti & San Domingo and the early 1940’s during World War II in Rome. He was posthumously awarded the inaugural Killarney International Humanitarian Award. It was presented to members of his extended family at a special ceremony in Killarney on 15 November 2008. At this ceremony, it was announced that from then on, the award would be known as the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award and would be presented annually to worthy recipients.

The Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Weekend will take place in Killarney from 3 – 5 November. Further information about the weekend and the life and work of Monsignor O’Flaherty can be found at: www.hughoflaherty.com