Florida Catholic | St. Vincent School Says Farewell To Sister Fennell

St. Vincent School says farewell to Sister Fennell

BENNET BOLTON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 05.09.08

Sister Mary Clare Fennell, RSM, principal of St. Vincent Ferrer School, prays with her students every morning and gives them a message for the day. St. Vincent Ferrer pastor’s, Father Thomas Skindeleski, said, “It is impossible to go anywhere in the Delray community without someone bringing up the name of Sister Mary Clare when you say you are from St. Vincent Ferrer.”
LINDA REEVES | FC

DELRAY BEACH | Much admired and much respected, Sister Mary Clare Fennell will leave happy memories behind her as she ends her 40 years at St. Vincent Ferrer School here.

A member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, she arrived at the school in late August 1968 as a second-grade teacher, and taught that grade until 1973 when she moved up to fourth grade.

“In 1992 the principal, Sister Mary Peter, had a heart attack. Sister Mary Clare was asked to step into her place,” Anne Lee, Sister Fennell’s secretary, told the Florida Catholic. “That was 15 years ago. She is a very God-driven lady who leads all children to love our Catholicism, our faith.”

Sister Fennell, a native of County Cork, Ireland, said about her arrival in south Florida, “I joined four nuns who were already here. I feel that today we are standing on their shoulders. If you don’t know your history, you don’t really know who you are.”

She will be honored at the 11 a.m. Mass Sunday, May 18. The celebrant will be Auxiliary Bishop John G. Noonan of the Miami Archdiocese, a native of Limerick, Ireland.

Sister Fennell, the daughter of the late Michael and Marie Fennell, was raised on a farm in Kinsale, County Cork – a farm still owed and operated by her brother Michael. Her older brother Liam is a Carmelite in Dublin; her sister, Kathleen Kelleher, has three grown children; and her brother John Patrick also has a farm.

About her imminent departure from St. Vincent Ferrer, she said, “My last home was in the school here, where parents and administrators like me get together. I gave them my farewell speech. When you leave something you know, and go into the darkness unknown, faith in God tells you that you will stand on solid ground, which is holy ground. God will be right there with you.”

Sister Fennell will take a year off as a sabbatical, and then will go to St. Meinrad Archabbey. The facility and school of theology is in Spencer County, Indiana. Founded by monks from Switzerland in 1854, it is home to about 110 monks.

“I will go there to pray and study,” said Sister Fennell.

Looking back, she said, “I taught a lot of the parents of today’s children, when those parents were themselves children and I was their teacher. I taught three of today’s current teachers.

“As principal it has been an honor to lead children to God every day, and help them discover and develop their God-given talents. I tell the children every day, when we gather outside to salute the flag and pray, to be somebody who is a good somebody and not somebody who is a bad somebody.”

St. Vincent Ferrer pastor’s, Father Thomas Skindeleski, said, “She has a wonderful reputation as a great teacher for 25 years, then another 15 years additional as principal. It is impossible to go anywhere in the Delray community without someone bringing up the name of Sister Mary Clare when you say you are from St. Vincent Ferrer.”

Michelle Donahue, a former student of Sister Fennell, has children attending the school. She had high praise for the nun.

“She is the kindest, sweetest person,” Donahue said. “We will miss her. She has touched the lives so many families.”

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St. Vincent School says farewell to Sister Fennell

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