A Life of Compassionate Presence

Sr. Jeremy Dempsey, OSB, who died on March 15, will be remembered by her family, monastic community, colleagues, students, and friends for her gentleness, wisdom, dry Irish wit, steadfastness, and love of poetry and literature. Perhaps the greatest lesson she left us, however, was how to live with compassion.

Although I took more classes from Sr. Mary Faith Schuster than with Sr. Jeremy during my years as an English major at Benedictine College, after graduating, I found myself gravitating toward Sr. Jeremy when I visited the monastery. She listened to my struggles and confusion and helped me stay grounded in God’s word and the Kansas soil, which we both loved. I wrote this poem for Sr. Jeremy when she retired from teaching:

How happy I am

that I was ready for you

to be my teacher,

for you have the brown

contours of the Kansas soil

tucked into your soul,

and when in worldly

confusion I pour out

to you all that I am not,

you point instead

to the quietness

and strength of the land

and the word that comes

from listening and being

true to oneself—

                                                            word made flesh.

Like the God she loved, Sr. Jeremy expressed her compassion through listening. She knew the stories of all the Dooley Center staff—their struggles, how their children were doing, their hopes—and she often expressed amazement at their strength and resiliency. In the last conversation I had with her two days before she died, she asked for an update on an inmate in my prison ministry group who is up for parole. As my friend Martha said, she was a distillation of God’s presence.

Sr. Jeremy often expressed gratitude for the blessings of being a Benedictine sister. Upon her death, we echo that gratitude and offer thanks for her generous spirit, humility, and fidelity to her monastic calling. Although we will miss her keenly, we take comfort in knowing that one day we will again enjoy her company in the place God has prepared for us.