Sr Stan’s mission is Finding Peace
Southside People | November 2021
During the pandemic, broadcaster Joe Duffy discovered his peace by solving jigsaw puzzles, while author and activist Vicky Phelan found hers by expressing thanks each morning for being given more time with family. Former President Mary McAleese found it listening to classical music, and President Michael D Higgins believes true peace must always be a troubled peace.
Amidst the pandemonium of Covid-19, tireless social activist and homelessness campaigner Sr Stan remained cocooned in The Sanctuary, a meditation centre in the heart of Dublin. Rather than ruminating on the negativity surrounding her, she channelled her efforts into her latest masterpiece- Finding Peace. The book poses the questions “where and how do you find peace in your daily life?” to a number of celebrities.
Famous faces from media personalities like Tommy Tiernan, Miriam O’Callaghan and Ray D’Arcy, to politicians like Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Taoiseach Michael Martin, all answer in their own way, giving us an insight into their minds and their lives. Each contributor has something different to offer so the content is diverse and wide-ranging. What is clear from all the contributions is that peace, ultimately, is about love.
“Step one of the peace process? Go easy on yourself,” opines RTE Radio 1s Brendan O’Connor. Peace campaigner, the late Pat Hume, offers her view in Finding Peace: “Peace cannot exist alone. It is utterly and completely dependent on the existence of love,” she says. Claire Byrne, journalist & presenter, finds her peace close to home: “The best place to find peace is in great big hugs with my :lovely family,” she says. President Michael D Higgins believes history can teach Ireland something about peace: “We in Ireland should reflect, as we now find ourselves mid-way through a decade of our Centenary Commemorations, on how forgiveness is so often an important prerequisite for peace,” he says.
