This graceful lady was my first ever professional employer. I have Sr Catherine to credit with so much of what I have learned about the world, my own country, its cruelties and injustice, and yet its gentleness and beauty – thanks to people like her. An Irish woman, (born in St Brigid’s Kildare, of course), she helped me connect my own Celtic heritage story with Aboriginal Australia – and how that shaped me, walking this country, here and now. She taught me about St Brigid, and helped me to find the feminine in God, in nature. She helped develop me as a writer, an activist, a public speaker – as I aspired for her strength in grace. She taught me how to care for myself, the importance of embracing the arts and culture – how these things too, were a form of prayer. I wrote an article on her life at one point, delving into her background and faith, and was struck by our similarities – she a nun and me a young beer drinking, 21 year old activist – whose lives I saw as so different – in fact shared a common dream for the world. She had me in tears that day, as I am now, on hearing of her passing. Vale Sr Catherine, thanks for the lessons in a life well lived. RIP xx