Born
Professed
Died
Sister Flora was born on 13 April 1935 at Finiselin, Ballinameen, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. She entered the Novitiate as a Postulant at Rosary Priory just short of her seventeenth birthday in January 1952, and received the Habit in the same year, on 31 July. She made First Profession the following year in August 1953 and Final Vows on 1 August 1956.
Sister Flora completed her teacher-training in England, graduating in 1957, after which she departed for South Africa. Here she spent the next 43 years teaching subjects that she loved – History and Religious Education – in St Columba’s, Benoni; St Dominic’s, Boksburg; and St Dominic’s Academy, Newcastle. In 1970, she was sent to Rome to do a 4-year diploma course in Sacred Studies and Theology at the Regina Mundi Pontifical Institute. Over the years, she held leadership roles either as Principal of a School or Prioress of a Community, or even both at the same time. She was elected Region Prioress in 1987 and served two terms of office (12 years).
Every century seems to have its particular kind of turbulence and challenges. While the 19th century had the Industrial Revolution, the 20th faced conflict time and again, and sought to resolve it by establishing congresses, councils, and forums to foster cooperation and collaboration, and to promote the acceptance of differences. The aspiration was to bring disparate people together to focus on what they held in common rather than what divided them.
Here in South Africa, women religious recognized the importance of their congregational leaders meeting together, among other things to discuss issues they all faced. The various women’s congregations of Dominicans, as also the brethren, met together. In 1975, Federation of Dominicans of Southern Africa, or FEDOSA, was born. Sister Flora’s leadership qualities had been identified, and she was elected the first president. The 1970s a time for dismantling walls that had existed between Dominican women’s congregations, and for undertaking to heal and to build relationships. Among the briefs of this new group called FEDOSA, was to look together at matters such as Justice and Peace, Catholic Education, and Initial Formation of new members to our Congregations where real and sustained collaboration could be realised.
There is nothing like a common adversary to unite groups. There was, at this time, a very real looming danger developing that was going to necessitate strong collaboration and courage in the face of risk and threats. This danger arose when the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference decided that Catholic Schools could no longer adhere to a law that denied children the right to a good education based on race. The policy of apartheid was incompatible with Gospel values. Catholic education would no longer comply with this law. This put Catholic schools into direct conflict with Government policy regarding segregation of races in schools. In 1976, Catholic schools opened their doors to all races. The then Transvaal Department of Education proved the most intransigent regarding the laws. Its reaction, initially, was to threaten Catholic schools with closure and having their registration removed. That meant a threat of closure not only to St Dominic’s Boksburg, but also to St Dominic’s Academy and Our Lady of Fatima School in Natal.
This situation would have particularly affected the Matrics because students would be writing public exams. On a class or exam register, it is impossible to hide the race of students who have traditionally different surnames.
In St Dominic’s School, Boksburg, at this time, a particular situation arose that no the other Catholic schools faced: the establishment of an extra-curricular activity in the form of Drum Majorettes. They were being trained so successfully by the older brother of one of the pupils that they began to win local, provincial and even national competitions. They came to be in the public eye and there was controversy about them not least among some Catholic bodies. The success of the “drummies”, in itself, was supposedly good. However, one of the flies in the ointment was that the “drummie” squads had Black girls in them. Some Government schools against whom our girls competed began to target St Dominic’s girls, in one instance throwing cake flour bombs at them, and running on to the field to disrupt their event. There was a crisis meeting between the School and parents, with the parents of the Black girls offering to remove their daughters from the squad. The situation really tested Sister Flora’s mettle. However, under her leadership and guidance, the School decided not to back down or capitulate to intimidation. The squads continued to compete and to excel, reaching the highest peak of winning international competitions.
Sister Flora was not alone in this time of danger and threat to schools. Other collaborative associations were established: the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE), and a body of owners of Catholic schools composed of Region and Congregation Priors and Prioresses. The various Catholic educational bodies established during the 1970s mounted something of a Catholic schools’ “counter attack”, one that was not aggressive. It took the form of strong and unwavering negotiating groups that eventually wore down the Government. Presenting a united front, members of the leadership group planned meetings between Catholic and Government and Provincial education bodies. Sister Flora became a member of this group in 1987 when she became Region Prioress.
Ever looking to the future with confidence, Sister Flora initiated the formation of lay Boards of Governors in our Schools, people chosen with care and an eye for the skills that they brought to help run the Schools. She also oversaw the appointment of the first lay Principals. Some Sisters were not in favour of these changes, but Sister Flora stood by the wisdom of doing this. The number of Sisters involved in schools was diminishing greatly. Appointing suitable lay people was judicious.
FEDOSA under Sister Flora’s leadership also helped to move the various Dominican Congregations towards the establishment of closer working ties among themselves: particularly towards the founding of the Inter-Congregational Novitiate that came into being in 1996.
As regards the Region, Sister Flora was the one who thought of creating a Heritage Room, the first among the Dominicans in South Africa and the model upon which other Dominican Congregations set up their heritage places. It was also her idea to have a retirement home built for our elderly Sisters—Marian House, where Sister Flora herself was cared for so lovingly in her later years as she became more frail and her memory failed her.
Sister Flora’s time had come to surrender herself into the hands of her loving God and to move from death on earth to life in heaven. She died peacefully at Marian House on 9 January and was buried in the cemetery a few days later after the celebration of Requiem Mass.