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Below is the homily delivered by Father Jeremiah Murphy at the Mass of the
Resurrection for Sister Denis Anne.
Sister Denis Anne (Alice) Cremins (1925-2009)
One of Sister Denis Anne’s gifts was that she
knew who she was. Her identity was clear. She was a Carondolet Sister of St.
Joseph. Her parents were instrumental in her vocation. In 1907 the 18 year old
Anne Kelly would leave her hometown of Crossmaglen on the border between County
Louth and Armagh for Los Angeles where her sister Mary McCardle resided. Two of
Mary’s children, Sr. Rose McArdle, S.M. and Fr. Joseph McArdle, would become
the first religious vocations of the cousins that would include three nuns and
five priests. In that same year 1907 a 23 year old Denis Cremins departed from a
farm in Dunamore, County Cork for Los Angeles where his sister Helen Diffley
lived. Anne and Denis met and married. They brought with them to Los Angeles a
Celtic spirituality that would prepare Sr. Denis Anne for the spirituality of
the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet. The Celtic cross with a circle around
its arms illustrates how the cross is related to the earth, the sun, the moon,
and the stars. The divine and the material are intimately connected. St
Patrick’s Breastplate illustrates this feature: “I arise today Through the
strength of heaven: Light of sun, Radiance of moon, Splendor of fire, Speed of
lightning, Swiftness of wind, Depth of sea, Stability of earth, Firmness of
rock.” The breastplate goes on to speak how near Jesus is to us. “Christ
with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who
thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every
eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.” Another feature of
Celtic spirituality is that true leadership involves the full participation of
women. St. Patrick built the conversion of Ireland on this value. St. Brigid
manifested this leadership in her ministry. Sr. Denis Anne’s mother practiced
this leadership in the Cremins family.
Alice Cremins was born in 1925, the sixth child
preceded by Marie, Robert, Anna, Eileen, and Denis. Jerry would be born10 years
later. Marie was sophomore at St. Mary’s Academy in 1925 wanting to be a
sister of St. Joseph. Another sister, Anna, was in the 6th grade at
Holy Cross under the direction of the Carondolet sisters. Their uncle Gene
Cremins, a fireman, was the volunteer chauffeur for the Sisters at Holy Cross.
Alice was 7 years old when Sister Pancratius requested to enter the St. Joseph
Sisters. At first the Sister Superior told Anna that they were more interested
in her older sister Marie. But now Marie was engaged to be married. Parcratius
would turn this hurt into humor by telling the story in laughter concluding,
“I was the second choice.”
The Celtic integration of prayer and life was
evident in the Cremins Family. All through the day the refrain of “Jesus, Mary
and Joseph” could be heard. If the boiling water overflowed, or if someone
dropped something, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” were invoked. Marie once asked
her mother not to utter the refrain when her classmates from St Mary Academy
were visiting. Mrs. Cremins responded that she would pray to the Holy Family
anytime she could. Prayer and life were completely integrated.
The anam cara, soul friendship, flourished as Alice
grew up. Msgr. John Birch, Director of CYO, used to tell me what a loving,
friendly, joy filled, athletic family the Cremins were at Nativity school where
Eileen, Denis, Alice, and Jerry were his favorites. Did you that Alice was a
good boxer. Her future brother-in-law gave Alice and her cousin, Jerry, boxing
gloves for Christmas. Both learned how to box. One day Alice came home from
school without her sweater. Her mother told her to be sure to come home the next
day with a sweater. Alice did but the following day Sister principal told Mrs.
Cremins that Alice stole a sweater and said that her mother told her to do it.
“Children will say the darnest things” was Mrs. Cremins.
In 1942, her first cousin John Cremins was ordained
a priest. Two of his brothers Harold and Danny were in St John’s Seminary. The
17 year old Alice entered the Sisters of St. Joseph. To understand the dignity
of the religious vocation of a woman two mystics give us insights. Hildegard
(1098-1179) was born in the Rhineland but still was in the tradition of Celtic
spirituality of seeing divine beauty and energy in nature. Jesus is manifested
in water, sun, moon, stars. The Celtic leadership of women was apparent in
moving her convent to the banks of the Rhine to gain independence from male
authority. She was strong enough to confront popes, emperors, kings and bishops
but humble enough to recognize her limitations. Hildegard would write to Abbot
Philip: “A wind blew from a high mountain and, as it passed over castles and
towers, it put into motion a small feather which had no ability of its own to
fly but received its movement entirely from the wind. The almighty God arranged
this to show what the Divine could achieve through a creature that had no hope
of achieving anything by itself.” Mechtild (1210-1282) also had that Celtic
vision of seeing all things in God and God in all things. Recognizing God in a
stone, Melchild would say to the stone, “Who are you?” The stone would
answer, “I am Jesus.” God spoke to her, “I desired you before the world
began.
I
desire you now as you desire me. And where the
desires of two come together, There love is perfected.” “A fish cannot drown
in water, A bird does not fall in air. How could I resist my nature, That lives
for oneness with God?” Melchild had other wonderful sayings.
“God has enough of all things, but he can never
have enough contact with the human soul.”(4, 12)
“I was created in love, therefore, nothing can
liberate my nobleness but love.”
“I am in you and you are in me. We could not be
any closer. We two are fused into one, poured into a single mould. Thus
unwearied we remain forever.”
Some of Denis Anne’s students took the initials
from her name and called her the D.A. because of her sense of justice. Alice was
very much like her mother Annie who was concerned about doing the right thing.
Sr. Pancratius was like her father, Denis the policeman, who did not like to
give traffic citations. He was more interested in hearing their story, seeing
humor in the situation and discovering whom they both knew. His sense of mercy
would result in a warning not ticket. By the way the chalice used in this Mass
was given over 50 years ago to Carondolet Sisters in memory of Denis Cremins and
the ciborium was donated 30 years ago to the memory of Anne Kelley Cremins. The
D.A. was very direct in standing up for justice. When the Department of Catholic
Schools informed her that the school would have to take back the student
expelled for smoking pot because the pastor had not informed the office before
the expulsion. Her response was, “We will take him back if you send someone to
teach him because no one on the staff will. The DA once told her
Spanish-speaking pastor that he should learn English. He also helped to learn
English. He went to become a bishop. Working the suicide hotline one weekend she
answered a call at 9:00 pm giving a man many reasons to continue on living. The
man called back at 10:00 pm and each hour thereafter repeating the whole
process. When he called 4:00 am she said, “Leave us alone and go hang
yourself.” Sr. Margaret Jude Corey tells the story when they would go gambling
at Las Vegas or Laughlin Sr. Denis Anne had the ritual of playing Kenny
Roger’s song, “The Gambler.”
The first five and half decades of her ministry as
a nun was one of service to others. Things were reversed in last decade of her
life. The ministry of giving now changed into ministry of receiving love from
her community and the entire staff at Holy Family convent. St Augustine said
that the ministry to the sick is Christ in the caregiver ministering to Christ
in the patient and then Christ in the patient ministers to Christ in the
caregiver. As Sr. Denis Anne’s health deteriorated, her ability to speak and
express herself became less and less. Often she was mute and helpless. That is
the way God is presence in this world, often mute and helpless. To hear what God
has to say we must learn to be attentive to Sr. Denis Anne in her silence.
God’s power in the world is like Sr. Denis Anne in her last years. God’s
grace does not win over so much with brilliance and power as with silence and
helplessness.
My first memories go back to age 3 or 4 when Alice,
a student at St. Mary’s Academy, was my baby sitter. When I would ask her,
“Why, all the rules.” She would say, “Because I am in charge.” When I
would visit her in recent weeks, I would read the Liturgy of the Hours to her
until one day she said. “Would you stop reading that book?” She would also
say after long periods of silence, “Don’t leave!” or, “I love you.”
Her love extended beyond me to all those who cared for her, the staff at Holy
Family convent, all of the Sisters of St Joseph and all of us. Those words of
her when seemingly she could not speak at all, “I love you,” is her legacy
to us.
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