Sister Mary Rose Mullan (Bridget/ Bridie)
Bridget (Bridie) was born in Garvagh, Co. Derry, Northern Ireland, the fifth child of a family of twelve born to Margaret and John Mullan. She attended St. Columba’s Primary school in her parish, and in 1947 transferred to St Teresa’s Convent School in Limavady where the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions taught her. It was during this time at St. Teresa’s that she felt the call to religious life. So, in 1950 Bridie left home for Hastings where five of her school friends had already gone including one of her sisters. When she was received into the Congregation, she became known as Sister Mary Rose and kept the feast of St. Rose of Lima as her Feast Day.
After First Profession in March 1954 until 1976, Rose worked in England. She had a keen mind and succeeded in her many studies. This enabled her to use her many gifts teaching in Secondary Schools in the Province. In 1976 she was missioned to Kenya where she taught in Karinga Girls’ High School, and later to Kabaa where she taught for six years. Rose had a wonderful gift for teaching and as someone said, “she had the students eating out of her hand!”
After the 1984 Chapter, Rose was appointed to Papua New Guinea. Because she had already been accepted at the Pacific Missionary Institute in Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia, for a year’s course, she only had six weeks in Papua New Guinea. In 1986, after the course, she returned to PNG with a RNDM Sister from Australia. They were missioned to Madang on the north coast to be on the staff of St. Fidelis College, a minor seminary where candidates for the priesthood took a two-year course in preparation for major seminary studies.
For health reasons, Rose left PNG in 1991 to go to Australia for medical treatment and was able to enjoy the hospitality of the Sisters in Australia. For the next two years, 1992-1993, she lived in Dublin as a student at the Irish School of Ecumenics. This proved a very worthwhile experience as it included fieldwork in Belfast where “grassroots ecumenism” and efforts at reconciliation were getting under way. Rose was among the group of religious who staffed the newly opened Oaklands Refugee Centre in S.E.London in 1993. Asylum seekers from many African Countries as well as Peruvians and Eastern Europeans lived at the centre and spent six months learning English and trying to adapt to their new situation. In 1994 Rose moved to Brighton on the south coast of England where she and another RNDM Sister from the Province worked in St. Joseph’s Parish in the pastoral and catechetical ministries.
In 1999 Rose responded to an advertisement placed in the Catholic Paper by a Mercy Sister looking for a work companion. It was a two-year programme for women asylum seekers and Rose felt drawn to the work which reminded her of Euphrasie Barbier’s Vision of working with women! In spite of the fact that most of her work experience had been in education, Rose now courageously moved into a social work mode. She organised small groups of Turkish and Pakistani women living on or near the Chingford Hall Estate. Most had come as asylum seekers with all the attendant trauma and hardship. The Mercy Sisters were involved in social work and Rose held classes for the women when their children were at school. The hospitality and friendliness of the women and living with the Mercy Sister her co- worker was as Rose said, ‘a rewarding and worthwhile venture’ in spite of the risks, not least of which was survival on 164 St Fabian Tower. It was here that the two Sisters welcomed in the new millennium.
Like St Paul, Rose continued ‘in journeyings often’ in parish ministry, visiting the sick and house-bound and reconnecting with people who had become part of her life over many years. Rose was energised by people who appreciated her for thinking of them. It was such a pleasure for her even if it meant a train journey or a bus journey. She loved to listen to stories and engaged with interest in making connections with her own life lived in other places and other missions. She loved going to assigned parishes at weekends for Mission Appeals. This provided an opportunity to share the Scriptures and weave in the stories of her life and those of the people in the context of the Gospel of the day.
When the two-year Project in Chingford came to a close, Rose lived and served in Barking for five years, followed by two years in Wapping. In August 2008 Rose retired to 108 Wealdstone Community before joining the 192 Wealdstone Community on 1st November 2013. Declining health soon followed and Sister moved to Euphrasie Barbier Community, Sturry in October 2014 and a few months later to St. Anne’s in February 2015 where she could receive the necessary care and support that she needed. This move was necessitated by the fact that Rose’s health was noticeably changing. About two years later on 12th January 2017 Rose gently responded to her final Call Home.
Her funeral was celebrated in St Anne’s Chapel on 31st January 2017. Her nephew, a priest in the Diocese of Down and Conor, Northern Ireland, led the Sisters and family in the celebration of Rose’s life, lived with generosity and commitment. He recalled “I was gifted with a copy of Sr. Marie Bénédicte Ollivier’s wonderful and fascinating life story of Mother Euphrasie. Writing many years ago, Mother Euphrasie spoke of the values her sisters should hold: “may they be truly those of God, of Jesus Christ, of his divine Spirit who is present within us, who speaks through our mouths, looks through our eyes and acts through our hands and feet, at the same time as it has to be him who thinks in our minds and loves in our hearts.” When we think of Sr. Rose’s life we can say indeed that was how she lived. Now with faith-filled hope we can be sure the gospel words, ‘Well done my good and faithful servant, come into the inheritance prepared for you” were the words Rose heard when she was welcomed Home by the God she loved! After the final commendation we accompanied the cortege to Sturry Cemetery where Rose was buried alongside many RNDMs.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, dwell in my love.
Jn. 15:9