God's Callgirl by Carla Van Raay

Author:Carla Van Raay [Raay, Carla Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780730492122
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

NOT SO FAST, SISTER

OUR GENERAL WAS suddenly deposed in 1965 amidst turbulent events in England which were kept as quiet as possible elsewhere. In Australia we were simply told that she had resigned for health reasons. For months the FCJs was without a General, then, in the following year, an Irish woman with a sparkling social talent and a brilliant gift for organising, Mother Raphael, took over the post. It was now up to her to get things moving; it would be like trying to turn a dinosaur into a gazelle. Margaret Winchester had been made General in 1948, and had stayed on for nineteen years.

When the General died in 1967, her death provoked such little ceremony that I can’t remember exactly when it happened. What I do remember is the shocking announcement Mother Clare made about her, on a day when we heard more than one thing that would change our lives for ever.

Reverend Mother Clare was nervous—we could tell by the colour of her cheeks. They usually had an attractive bloom, which ruddied when she got excited or stressed. On that day, her face was blotchy and held an ambiguous smile while she fidgeted with the papers in her hands. Her back and neck were stiff as she moved; another sign of stress.

We were asked to put away our needlework, the better to listen to a special announcement. Everybody knew then that something serious was afoot and the room came to perfect silence. We sat with our eyes down, holding the tension.

‘The announcement I am to give you is a formal public notice, worded in legal language,’ Mother Clare began. Then, before she uttered the news, she took on her sternest tone: ‘You are never to comment upon what you are about to hear, as a mark of loyalty to our late Mother General, whom we have all revered.’

We could hardly believe what we were hearing, or what came out of her mouth next.

‘Margaret Ellen Winchester,’ read Mother Clare, ‘formerly known as Superior General of the Order of the Faithful Companions of Jesus from 1948 to 1965, has been declared to have been of unsound mind during the last three years of her life. In view of her insanity, it is not possible to attribute to her any form of malicious wrongdoing.’

We drew in a collective deep breath. Had we heard right? Insane! Our General, mentally ill to the degree of insanity, therefore not held responsible for her actions? I smiled into my lap, ruefully gratified at hearing these words spoken in public in our private domain. Would this have to formally appear in the newspapers? But my mind was working overtime. The events pertaining to the reign and deposition of Madame Winchester were to be kept secret in archives in the Bishop of London’s residence. I suspect that Mother Clare made a mistake in reading that announcement to her community. As far as I can make out, it was not repeated in any other convent. And the order was never sued.

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