Sister Kath Celebrates Seventy Years Of Service

By Angela Faherty on September 5, 2014 in News

In today’s fickle society, it is rare to come across someone who has spent more than five years with the same employer, let alone someone who has dedicated their life to helping others.

Sister Kathleen Conlan has done just that, having spent 70 of her 92 years serving the community as a member of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor.

Sister Kath, as she is fondly known, joined the society on July 16, 1944 and over the course of the last 70 years has worked tirelessly caring for those who need it most.

Originally from Binya in rural New South Wales, Sister Kath said she received a call to religious life when she was 11 years old and spent the next few years searching for the right opportunity.

“Then one day I was flicking through the paper and saw an advert for Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor and caring for people in their own homes, and I immediately thought, that’s it,” she said.

The eldest of nine children, Sister Kath left Binya to dedicate her life to the work of the religious order, which was established in Sydney in 1913 at a time when there was no government healthcare assistance. This meant that poor people who fell ill could not afford to see a doctor or go into hospital.

Today, the society has homes in Sydney, Randwick, Brisbane, Newcastle and Macquarie Fields and remains independent of government funding while continuing to offer support to those in need.

Over the course of the last seven decades, Sister Kath has stayed true to the cause by offering healthcare, advocacy, friendship and practical support to those in need across the Sydney region, and in the last 28 years she has lived and worked from the society’s house in Randwick, focusing on those who have suffered the effects of mental illness and isolation within the community.

“I have come across quite a lot of people who have had nervous breakdowns or who were lonely, distressed or roaming the streets. In those days, the government put a lot of people out in the community and gave them tablets to take, but they weren’t responsible to look after themselves,” she said.

“I took quite a lot of these sweet people to my house for fellowship and prayer and that is what I have been doing for all these years. Over the course of time, so many of these people have put themselves right back together and gone on to live normal lives.”

Sister Kath said her door is always open and she often has visitors who join her at her home in prayer as well as in celebration.

“I have prayer meetings with the lonely and those in need and I love having parties,” she said. “I have a big table in the annexe out the back and lots of people will come and join in a celebration.”

In addition to celebrating significant events such as Easter and Anzac Day in her home, Sister Kath held a sewing group for over forty years as a sideline from her nursing duties, where the disadvantaged or those in need came to spend time with her.

The impact of her reach was witnessed most recently when a celebratory mass was held in her honour on Sunday, August 3 at St Brigid’s in Coogee. Many people whose lives she has touched attended the mass, while family and friends from across Australia and as far as Africa also came to celebrate her remarkable achievements.

Her good work has also been acknowledged on a state and international level, with Sister Kath receiving a Papal Blessing from Pope Francis commemorating her 70 years of service, and last year she was honoured with the New South Wales Premier’s Award for Community Service.

Though less mobile these days, Sister Kath remains devoted to the cause. She is a staunch supporter of the Sydney Swans and continues to crochet, pray and receive visitors in her Randwick home, firm in the belief that it is still her duty to provide assistance and comfort to those who need it most.

“I just want to help people,” she said. “I do it for the love of God and for the love of the work.”