Sr Jo is Cork Person of Month for November

WEST Cork Presentation Sister Josephine McCarthy has been named as Cork Person of the Month for November.

Sr McCarthy was chosen in recognition of her more than 30 years of work in community development.

Known as Sister Jo, her missionary work took her to Peru in 1978 for the Cork and Ross Mission, and later to Presentation missions in Ecuador and also Peru, where she worked for 20 years.

She returned to Ireland in the early 2000s.

Originally from Ballinacarriga, Dunmanway, she was inspired by the legacy of Nano Nagle, founder of the Presentation Sisters.

“We did serve in some very dangerous places whilst doing our missionary work,” said Sr McCarthy.

“When in Ecuador, we lived in an area which was completely lawless, and every dispute was settled with an axe.”

Sr McCarthy supported a development education programme with Presentation Secondary Schools for many years, facilitating an immersion experience for teachers and students across Africa, Pakistan, and India.

In 2006, the Presentation Sisters set up the Cork Migrant Centre at Nano Nagle Place in Cork City. CMC is a psychosocial wellbeing and integration hub, which aims to create safe spaces for migrants.

The hub allows them to enhance their skills and capacities, while also initiating integration opportunities by building collaborations, partnerships, and linkages, both nationally and internationally.

Sr Jo has been a key shaper and developer of these programmes.

She stepped down as director of the Cork Migrant Centre in 2018, though she remains an active volunteer.

Her name will go forward, alongside the other monthly winners, for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year for 2023, which will take place at the annual gala awards lunch in January 2024.