"All or nothing." The story of a remarkable woman of faith

A lot of what you find on the Internet could be filed under 'pure rubbish' but every now and then something really worthwhile rises to the top. A friend recently stumbled on something of a gem of a movie on You Tube. It's the story of Sr. Clare Crockett a young Irish religious sister, a native of Derry, age 34 who died when an earthquake struck Manabi in Ecuador on April 16th 2016. The school in which she worked collapsed killing her and five other young women who were in the first stages of formation as religious sisters. Clare had a promising career as an actor but chose instead to offer her life in God's service.

Sr. Clare was born on November 14, 1982, in Derry. She entered the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother on August 11, 2001, at the age of 18. She took her first vows on February 18, 2006, taking the religious name of Sr. Clare Maria of the Trinity and the Heart of Mary. She took her perpetual vows on September 8, 2010. From the moment of her first vows, she served in the Servant Sisters' communities in Belmonte, Cuenca (Spain), Jacksonville, Florida (USA), Valencia (Spain), Guayaquil (Ecuador), and Playa Prieta, Manabi (Ecuador). She passed away during the earthquake in Playa Prieta on April 16, 2016.

Sr. Clare had a charismatic quality to her warm and effusive personality and engaged with people in a truly remarkable way, she had a great rapport with children and young people and is fondly remembered as someone who radiated faith and the joy of the Gospel. In all her work in many different places she touched lives deeply. With Guitar in hand Clare brought to music that same infectious enthusiasm that characterised everything she put her hand to as one Sister said of her "Her way of singing reflected the way she lived." Sr. Kelly Maria Pezo recalls, "When she sang, she kept nothing back. And when she lived, she kept nothing back."

I watched the full video on Clare, called 'All or nothing' - available free on You Tube - and found it a most moving testimony about an ordinary girl with an extraordinary love for God. It's well worth a viewing. In an age of declining faith, I found it truly inspiring to see such a vibrant vivacious young woman so aflame with conviction and joy. I would not be at all surprised if one day this wonderful witness for Christ might enjoy the official recognition of the Church as a saintly soul.

Philip Curran,
St. Mary's Lucan