Five days that were ‘truly inspirational and life-changing’

The five day visit of Sr. Helen Prejean to our diocese and region was a great privilege and a profound time of grace for all who participated. The visit had been hoped for, waited for and planned for over a number of years and when Sr. Helen arrived at Newcastle airport to be met by Fr. Dermott Donnelly, it was a bit like a homecoming! Sr. Helen felt this too and has agreed to make a return visit saying, “I love these people. There was a receptiveness that gives me a lot of hope. They really listened and I thought ‘Wow! They got it’.”

It had been five years earlier that Fr. Dermott had first heard Sr. Helen speak at a Religious Education Conference in Los Angeles and his persistent invitations to her finally resulted in what has been described as a ‘life-changing’ event by so many of the  participants.  Fr. Dermott was delighted that the visit was such a resounding success and said, “You could see Sr. Helen loved the people of the North-East, and the feeling was mutual. I’ve had so many phone calls, letters and emails already saying how much people enjoyed the conference.  An elderly woman told me she had waited for that all her life.”