Irene's Story

Irene McCormack grew up as a fairly typical West Australian country girl. Born on the 21st of August 1938 she was raised on a farm at Trayning near New Norcia and very early on emerged as a vibrant, determined and fun-loving girl. She was sent to boarding school at Santa Maria College and it soon became evident that she had two great loves - to serve God and to educate young people. After joining the Sisters of St. Joseph she spent many years teaching in schools in country areas. She constantly challenged the Bishops to act more justly in providing resources for country kids - for her it was an issue of justice. In the mid-1980's Irene experienced a real dilemma with her vocation. She felt she had to volunteer to work with the most needy in order to be true to herself. She continually proclaimed about mission in the Church - to be an active part of the Global church. For that to have any value for her she felt she had to put her feet where her mouth was! Irene arrived in Peru in 1987 and was appointed to

Huasahuasi in 1989. She took up the challenge of ministering to the impoverished, "I have come to understand that effective action is a way of loving." For political reasons Communist rebels, the Shining Path, did not welcome missionaries and despite recognising the danger Irene and her fellow sisters continued to work with and for the village people, "I really believe and have experienced that the more committed you are the freer you are." On the 21st of May 1991 Irene's fears were realised when she and a five others were dragged to the village square, told to lie face down and executed by a shot to the back of the head. Irene's 'crime' in the eyes of her murderers was caring for, working with and handing out Caritas food parcels to the impoverished villagers.