Denver, Colo., Jun 28, 2023 / 11:55 am
An Irish nun who received India’s highest civil award, the Padma Shri, for her work in education, has passed away at the age of 86.
Sister Cyril Mooney, IBVM, died Saturday, June 24, in Kolkata, India, after a long illness. She was born on July 21, 1936, in Bray, Ireland. She was a student at Loreto Convent and it was there, at the age of 13, that she felt called to become a religious sister.
In 1956, she left Ireland and started her journey by ship to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). In 1979, she finished her doctoral degree in zoology and became the principal of Loreto Day School at Sealdah, Kolkata.
Inspired to use education as a means of creating change and empowering India’s poorest population, Mooney founded the Rainbow School Program. Previously, the convent’s school only allowed the well-off to attend, but thanks to this program, their doors were opened to the poor and have helped nearly 450,000 individuals improve their circumstances.