Ancestors by Maureen Lahiff, Alameda, California Companion The following are the author’ s remarks from the Companion Covenant Mass during the 2017 Provincial Assembly.
My mother Mary Ellen Banaghan was born on a farm near Carrick on Shannon, County Leitrim, on the west coast of Ireland. Her father died when she was a little over a year old. When her mother remarried, life became difficult for my mother and her older brother John; my mother was sent to live with her maternal grandmother. At age 16, my mother emigrated to the United States, sponsored by her mother’ s sister and her husband, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Leo O’ Meara, who lived in Lorain, Ohio.
My father’ s grandfather and great grandfather came to the United States in An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger. At that time, Ireland had a population of about 8 million people. In the Great Hunger, over a million people died and over one and a half million emigrated. Leaving their families on the East Coast, my father’ s forebears joined the California Gold Rush. Then they returned east and purchased farmland near Grafton, Ohio. My father, William Thomas Lahiff, was born on that farm in Lorain County.
These are my family ancestors, emigrants and seekers. I, too, am an emigrant, moving gradually westward from North Central Ohio, in search of educational and professional opportunities.
We all acquire an interesting and diverse set of ancestors through our association with the Precious Blood family: Francesco Albertini, Gaspar del Bufalo, Giovanni Merlini, Maria de Mattias, Francis de Sales Brunner, Daniel Schaefer, Brother Carl Mueller. We’ ve lost the immediate physical presence of a number of them in the past year, people named in our litany of remembrance last night, including Companions Francis Flanagan and Gerry Downs. I honor and thank Gerry as an ancestor, because she was the one who introduced me to the Precious Blood Community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gerry was born in Buffalo, New York, not far from where I was born in Cleveland. Half a generation older than me, Gerry didn’ t have the educational opportunities that I did. She trained as a surgical tech and spent 17 years as a Navy wife. Gerry’ s adventures in ministry began as a volunteer in youth ministry at Saint Leander parish in San Leandro, California. Like so many other youth ministry volunteers, Gerry became
California Companions and members, 2017 Provincial Assembly
involved because she had kids. At St. Leander, Gerry worked with a music minister named Jeffrey Keyes, who introduced her to the summer program in liturgy and music at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana. As she became more involved in ministry, and to make her way after divorce, Gerry began to take college courses to prepare for graduate studies in ministry. When she found out that the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley would accept students in their Master of Theological Studies program with significant experience even if they did not have college degrees, Gerry stepped out, completing her master’ s degree in 1990.
When I met Gerry, she was a pastoral associate at St. Augustine Parish in North Oakland.
As an ancestor, Gerry was not only courageous, she was generous and supportive to other women in ministry like me.
Precious Blood Father Greg Comella was an ancestor for both Gerry and me. In fall 1992, under
Albia, Iowa Companions and Precious Blood members, 2017 Provincial Assembly
6 • The New Wine Press • July 2017