Age 88
Born in Gordon Town, St. Andrew, Jamaica, Sister Theresa was committed to God, to the vowed life, to the Church, and to the Mercy community.
A bright, thoughtful, talented, and reflective woman, she received here master’s degree in theology from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, and her doctorate in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, Canada.
A powerful and dedicated educator, she first served as a high school teacher at Convent of Mercy Academy, Alpha. From 1970 to 1977, she continued this journey in a different role as she became the formation director for women entering the Mercy community.
In 1978, at the request of Archbishop Edgerton Clarke, Theresa became the director of St. Michael’s Seminary in Kingston, Jamaica, where she served for twelve years as administrator and faculty member. As director, Theresa was instrumental, working in tandem with the University of the West Indies, in establishing a degree program for students of St. Michael’s.
In 1988, while teaching at St. Michael’s, Theresa, and her lay colleagues, founded the Mercy Association of Jamaica. In 1990, members of the Province of Cincinnati elected Theresa to their leadership team where she served as the area administrator of Jamaica until 1998. In 2012, Bishop Paul Boyle invited Theresa to serve as his advisor and to give a presentation at the meetings of SEDOS (Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission) in Rome.
As a theologian and educator, Theresa grounded herself within the liberation theology that emphasized and focused on a preferential option for the poor and oppressed and emerged from Latin America and the Caribbean after the Second Vatican Council. For Theresa, the story of the life of the Sisters of Mercy in Jamaica reflected liberation theology lived out in its fullest expression in the context of the time.