Hard drinking nun

Hard drinking nun was well known in Cappoquin
By Marion O’Mara

IN the late 1970s a Sister of Mercy nun, given the pseudonym Sr. Callida, was appointed deputy house parent to what was known as Group Home A in St. Michael’s, Cappoquin.

When she took the job she had 17 children in her care. Though well known for her drinking and having children sleep in her bed she became Resident Manager and remained in that post until she was sacked in 1990s. The report, published by the commission to enquire into child abuse, highlights how Sr. Callida drank whiskey regularly and often in the sitting room in front of the older children. It was claimed she would be so drunk as to be falling all over the place.

A former staff member told the inquiry there were no proper routine and no timetables. Communication between management and staff was non-existent. She told how it was a frightening place to be for staff and children, and that she did not feel safe. Without giving prior notice Sr. Callida and Sr. Serena, who was in charge of another group house, regularly went away together. Sr. Callida had a little girl who slept with her at night and she would sometimes take that child or other children with her on her excursions.

“The fact that the kids slept in the bedroom, and she nearly always had a young child sleeping in the bedroom with her - it just became a habit over the years. Some of the staff used to try and get the child not to go in there but the child just always went in and she always brought her in. When she would go down to bed at night she would bring her with her,” the former staff worker said.

She recalled on one occasion Sr. Callida was so drunk she fell into the playpen on top of one of the children. There was, she added, no secret about Sr. Callida drinking. “That’s what I found very hard to understand, how everyone in the community knew what she was like and fellows knew that she was pissed going around the town and she would be out at nightclubs and different things.”

The report stated that from the time Sr. Callida became Resident Manager of the two group homes in the early 1980s, management problems arose almost immediately. One of the main problems was her lack of respect for care staff. On one occasion concern was expressed by a House Mother about two boys and a girl being alone in fields adjoining the home. Sr. Callida was asked, “What if the girl gets pregnant? She kind of laughed at me and said, ‘It wouldn’t be you that made her pregnant.’ I wasn’t getting anywhere...,” the House Mother said. There was further evidence of drinking going on in Group Home A. Parties were held in the home, and former residents and student priests stayed overnight.

Sr. Callida accepted to the Commission that there were times when she drank a lot but she denied her drinking was problematic. She accepted that some people stayed overnight in the homes but they were past pupils or her own brother. She did not accept evidence from the staff members that one past pupil, in particular, was a regular visitor and was often drunk. One of the Mercy sisters who gave evidence described Sr. Callida’s personality as one of great power that seemed to work towards negating the power of others. She was intimidating and forceful.

Following her removal in the early 1990s, Sr. Callida was told to stay away from the group home and children, in order to avoid confusion for the children. The congregation had great difficulty in getting Sr. Callida to comply with its wishes. She tended to stay around the grounds of Cappoquin, waiting for the children on their way to and from school. Sr. Callida remained defiant, and it took almost a year to resolve these problems.