In 2010, Sister Paschal (Jennie) O’Sullivan returned home to Ireland at the age of 98 after 75 years of missionary work in Japan, which including teaching English at one of the Japan’s most prestigious girls’ schools, Denenchofu Futaba in Tokyo.
Among her past pupils is Japan’s Crown Princess Masako.
Following Sister Paschal’s 100th birthday, her young cousin, James Creedon—who works in Paris as the media correspondent for the television news channel France24—became interested in her life and experiences and decided that they should be preserved.
From the time they spent together over the following year, before Sister Paschal’s death, a documentary film is in production, directed and produced by James, which bears witness to the values and extraordinary experiences of one of Ireland’s missionary daughters born in another epoch, a film with much to say to the Church and to the world of the 21st century.
A trailer for the film can be viewed here; a fundraising page for those interested in helping Creedon complete the film is here.
Catholic World Report interviewed James Creedon about his initiative.
CWR: James, presumably you did not know Sister Paschal as you grew up. How was she regarded in your family? What did you learn of her as a boy and young man?
James Creedon: There were around a dozen missionary priests and nuns in my extended family going up three or four generations. I knew of Sister Paschal via my grandmother’s correspondence with her.
Jennie, as she was known to her family, was a wonderful letter-writer, and despite the fact that she spent 75 years on the other side of the world, she maintained close family ties with extended family members, many of whom were born after her departure.
My grandmother, for example, was just three years old when Jennie left Ireland, yet somehow a bond was established and maintained. That alone says a lot about the kind of person she was and how big her heart was. Continue reading
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