Sr Stanislaus Kennedy receives award linked to Fitzgerald/Kennedy family

Sr Stan receiving her Award

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, or Sr Stan as she is affectionately known, has been presented with the 2017 Fitzgerald Bible Bruff Award at the Thomas Fitzgerald Centre in Bruff, Co Limerick. A native of Dingle in Co Kerry, Sr Stan - a member of the congregation of Religious Sisters of Charity since 1958 - is a visionary and social innovator. For almost fifty years she has pioneered, campaigned, explored and developed a range of inspiring social innovations to the benefit of thousands of people who have experienced exclusion in its many forms.

The annual award, which was inaugurated in 2015, is given by the Bruff Heritage Group to a person who, through a particular act or service, has made a significant contribution to the Irish nation. Sr Stan was chosen in recognition of her lifelong contribution on behalf of “the poor, the homeless and the excluded in Ireland.”

In 1985 she founded Focus Ireland which is now the largest voluntary housing organisation in the country. In 2001 she set up The Immigrant Council of Ireland as a response to the social needs of new immigrants living in Ireland. In 1997 she was appointed to the Council of State in Ireland and served until 2004. In a building donated by the Sisters of Charity she set up The Sanctuary in 2000 as a meditation and mindfulness centre in the heart of Dublin city where today it provides a range of programmes working with young people and those who are at a vulnerable stage in their lives. It was one way of continuing the sisters’ work of “giving to the poor, what the rich could buy with money”. Sr Stan has written a number of books.

The recognition award commemorates the link between Bruff and the Fitzgerald and Kennedy families in Boston. When Thomas Fitzgerald, grandfather of the late President John F. Kennedy left Bruff in 1852 after the Great Famine, the only item he took with him was the family bible. Through generations in Boston, the bible was used by the family to record births, marriages and deaths. It played an important role in the Fitzgerald family. When John F. Kennedy was being sworn in as the 35th President of the United States of America, he insisted on using it to swear the oath of office. The bible is now on exhibition in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

The Thomas Fitzgerald Centre, which was officially named in 2013 by Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, displays an array of photographs, including some from the visit of President Kennedy to Ireland in 1963, the visit of Caroline Kennedy to Bruff in 2013, and also includes photographs of various members of the Fitzgerald/Kennedy family. It is home to a hand painted mural depicting the Fitzgerald family tree, the only one of its type in the world. It is open weekdays from 10am to 2pm. Every generation of the Fitzgerald/Kennedy family have visited their ancestral home in Bruff.

Accepting the award, Sr Stan described it as a unique award that had special significance because of its connection with the Fitzgerald/Kennedy family which she described as “a family who believed in goodness”. Demonstrating her usual humility, she said: “I am honoured to receive this award, and I accept it on behalf of the hundreds of people who have worked with me through the various organisations that I have been involved in; the staff and volunteers are the people who do the work; I’m merely the instrument who started them.”

Chairman of the Thomas Fitzgerald Centre, Paul Dennehy told her: “You have worked tirelessly for those who belong to a forgotten Ireland, those whose voice is often not heard, and for those whose hopes and needs have become your ambition and inspiration.”

In a special message of congratulations, John Allen, Executive Director of the John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis, Cape Cod praised Sr Stan for:

“all she has done throughout her life, and the contribution she has made in Ireland on behalf of the poor, the homeless and the excluded. President John F. Kennedy’s legacy to the world included inspiring as well as challenging people to do exactly what Sr Stan has done to make the world a better place. Further, it is fitting that the award also recognises Sr Stan’s efforts that resulted in organisations being created or expanded that provide support to immigrants to Ireland. The inspiration and call to action of JFK remains very relevant today and we are proud to be the ambassadors to those messages and personal challenge. Your award to Sr. Stan can also serve to be a source of inspiration to others in Ireland. We extend to you and to Sr. Stan our congratulations and our admiration for her work and her example.”

Sr Stan’s congregation, the Religious Sisters of Charity, was founded in Ireland in 1815 by Mary Aikenhead. They work in education, healthcare and on human rights issues. Their fourth vow is 'service of the poor', and they currently have convents in eight countries on four continents.

In a recent statement following the announcement by the congregation that they are withdrawing from St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, the Association of Leaders of Missionaries & Religious in Ireland paid tribute to them saying: “We thank and compliment the outstanding contribution of the Religious Sisters of Charity to healthcare and other services in Ireland over the best part of the last two centuries. They were courageous women, inspired by their foundress Mary Aikenhead, who had vision, energy and a caring ethos. Their contribution to the nation’s health services is worthy of positive recognition at every level.”