IT took a great deal of convincing for Mercy Sister Val Cuthbert to be featured in The Leader.
Resisting for some time, and offering the names of countless others supposedly “more worthy”, the delightful former pastoral associate of Sandgate-Brighton parish agreed if she “wasn’t the sole focus”.
As such the students and staff of St Kieran’s Primary School, Brighton, also form part of this story as it’s their love for her that’s helped it eventuate.
“It’s a privilege to know Sr Val and working with her has been a joy,” St Kieran’s principal Charlotte Robinson said.
Mrs Robinson and assistant to the principal for religious education Susan Angus-McInnes took a group of students of varying ages to visit Sr Val on March 8 to “lift her spirits” following a bout of ill health.
They’d farewelled her from the parish role in late 2010 and named the blue-coloured Cuthbert House, for school sporting activities, in her honour.
“Sr Val spent many years at Brighton serving the local community,” Mrs Robinson said of the Mercy nun’s arrival in Brighton in 1988.
“She is a much-loved member of the community … (and) is adored by the children because she was so loving towards them.
“The children would run to her when they saw her coming and she would greet them with her lovely, big smile.”
When the staff and students entered the dining room of Sr Val’s care facility earlier this month those connections were glowingly evident.
The children each hugged and kissed her, presented flowers, endless smiles and then a special song-and-dance concert of modern and classical tunes.
Other residents also enjoyed the visit, Sr Val saying a week later “the ladies here have been talking about it ever since”.
“It was just wonderful,” she said. “Even the Grade One-ers, weren’t they cute?”
Sr Val had listened intently, clapped and cheered, ever grateful the school took the time to brighten her lengthy stay away from Nudgee, where she has lived with two other Mercy Sisters since her retirement from Brighton.
The days of ministering near the seaside are far from forgotten however, particularly her chaplaincy in the local Eventide nursing home – a “top priority”.
“I do miss it,” she told The Leader in a quieter moment.
“I miss the people there … I miss their strength.
“It’s hard to go into a nursing home (as a resident) because you leave everything behind. (But) their courage and the way they use humour will stay with me.”
Sr Val said the Eventide nursing staff were particularly etched in her memory.
“When the nursing staff has the right disposition it makes for a healthy home,” she said. “(But) if you have people who haven’t got a caring way – who are more interested in the pay packet – then you see the unhappiness of residents.
“The staff at Eventide keep that loving intention.”
The gentle woman of faith said she would “get upset when there were lots of deaths” in the nursing home because “the nurses have no time to mourn … they just need to get on with it”.
Sr Val herself is getting on with life outside the parish but admits to continuing visits to Eventide where possible. She also visits others in the parish and, of course, St Kieran’s.
“In the parish community Sr Val was a tireless worker who managed the music ministry and almost everything that went on in the parish,” Mrs Robinson said.
“She just loved all those members of the parish and in turn, they loved her.”
While Sr Val was living in Brighton with Mercy Sister Joan Mulhdorff, school staff often turned to them for prayerful support.
“I enjoyed talking with them both and we all knew that we could ask them for prayers for family and friends with the guarantee that God would be listening,” Mrs Robinson said.
Sandgate-Brighton parishioner Linda Isaak said Sr Val was always “very, very giving” of her time and was displayed “a great love of music”.
“Sr Val started a youth band for the 5pm Mass,” Ms Isaak said. “Her passion for the residents at Eventide and visiting the sick was very obvious … and she was very interested in bringing more young people to Mass.”
Before arriving in Brighton Sr Val ministered in Ipswich, Beaudesert, Wynnum and Hamilton, often providing “class music” in the parish schools.
She was “born in Stanthorpe but ended up in Ipswich” and made her first profession with the Mercy Sisters in 1954.
“You’re going to figure out my age,” Sr Val said to questions about when and where she was educated.
Promising to not ask too many more, an early influence of the Mercies came to light.
“The kindness of a couple of nuns in Stanthorpe remained with me all my life,” she said.
“I was a little boarder in Stanthorpe as my mother was very sick … (and) the Sister in charge of the boarders was wonderful.
“The Sister who looked after hospitality … I thought the world of her too.”
Sr Val said that kindness related to children and parents alike and influenced her decision “to join the convent”.
“I was pretty certain that’s what I wanted,” she said.
“Lots of people were surprised … they thought I was a bit of a tomboy but I wasn’t, that much.”
There’s no surprise or convincing needed to be assured Sr Val’s witness of faith in God will continue to resonate in more hearts than even she realises.
