Mags GarganA Derry nun who was killed in an earthquake in Ecuador last month was described as a “striking example of womanhood” at her funeral on Monday.
Sr Clare Crockett (33) was killed three weeks ago while trying to bring children to safety when a stairwell collapsed in Playa Prieta where she had been serving as a missionary with the Home of the Mother order.
Speaking at her funeral Mass in St Columba’s Church in Long Tower, Fr Eamon Graham Adm. said Sr Clare was a “striking example of Derry womanhood”.
“Through the troubles and difficulties that we have experienced over the years one of our greatest strengths has been that of our women who often were the breadwinners and held society together. The Derry women have so often lived the Gospel by putting the needs of others first,” he said.
Vulnerable
“Sr Clare was a striking example of Derry womanhood. Clare asked herself what could she do to make the world a better place and how could she serve God through the most vulnerable.
“She clearly did this in an exemplary manner as a religious sister nourished by prayer and especially through the Eucharist but she did it above all as a woman who never forgot her Derry and her Brandywell roots.”
Bishop of Derry, Dr Donal McKeown also paid tribute to the Derry native saying that “her ministry did not die with her”. “Her life and death have posed questions for many of her contemporaries – what is worthwhile doing in life, what makes a beautiful person, who we want to have as our idols? The mission of Christ’s Church in this diocese is not to tell people what they can’t do – but to tell them of Jesus’ dream for what they can become,” he said.