Sister Thomas Mary Kerin, OP
Date of death: March 15, 2001
It was sixty-one years ago, February 2, l940 when I first met Florence Kerin. She and two other young women were coming to join the six novices and four postulants who comprised the novitiate here at Mount Saint Mary. I was one of those novices.
Six months later, on August 5, 1940 she received the habit and was given the name of Sister Thomas Mary. One year later, August 6, 1941 Sister pronounced her first vows and within a month was teaching science at Pope Pius XII Diocesan High School in Passaic, New Jersey.
Before entering Florence had attended the Mount for a year and graduated from Ursuline Academy in New Rochelle. She had received a double Bachelor’s Degree, a BA in Natural Science and a BS in Secondary Education from Saint Elizabeth’s College in Convent Station, so she was well prepared for this new adventure.
Sister was born 83 years ago in Chicago, Illinois, February 2, l9l8, the daughter of the late Thomas and Gertrude Murnane. She was the third of nine children, seven of whom are living - Sister Gertrude Mary, Evelyn, Marian, Theresa, Lorraine, Tom and Monsignor Joe. Jim, who was well known because of his many trips to the infirmary, died one and a half years ago.
To all of you here tonight, including our celebrant Father Michael, who is Jim’s son, and to those who could not come because of illness, we, the Dominican Sisters of Hope, extend our sympathy and assure you of our prayers. We thank you for all you have done for us and for Sister Thomas Mary through her long illness.
We also thank Monsignor Jordon, Father Murphy, the sisters from Gloucester, and all who have honored Sister with your presence tonight.
Throughout the years, sister had given to many students and adults a love of learning, and a desire to further their education. She visited the ill, taught Sunday School, and in many other ways has helped to bring joy and encouragement to many.
On May 23,1990, one year after celebrating her Golden Jubilee, the time had come for a new ministry—a ministry that many of us will never understand but which if we really step aside and think about it long and hard—we will know that it is a ministry of quiet love, which was a ministry of suffering for her and a ministry for us, a suffering not knowing what she was thinking.
That afternoon of May 23, while speaking to one of our councilors, sister suffered a severe stroke. That day the grain of wheat fell to the ground and died. For eleven long years we watched sister, sometimes knowing us, sometimes not aware, sometimes in a coma, but all this time, we know God was watching over her and us. That grain was producing much fruit though we were seldom aware of it. Fruit that brought many back to asking, “What is this life all about?” “What is God trying to say to me?”
I feel that these talks are given not only to pay tribute to our deceased sisters, but to help each one of us become just a little more aware what this life is all about.
“Amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
We thank you, Sister Thomas Mary, for your last days when you helped us realize that we too must see that the grain of wheat God has given to each of us produces much fruit. May you rest in the Eternal Peace of Christ.
Anne Gilson, OP
March 20, 2001