Dear members, we are delighted to post the details of a book which is co-authored by our own member Dominic Cogan.
The book has direct relevance to community development work and also issues related to migrant rights and support both here and internationally. It is also a testament to one woman’s faith and how it has motivated her to work in support of the marginalised and vulnerable.
Dominic Colgan and Chandra Manning were interviewed about the book on Spirit Radio. Listen to the interview here. https://www.spiritradio.ie/podcast/stronger-together-the-life-work-of-sister-lena-deevy/
About the book:
This is the incredible story of Sr Lena Deevy, a member of the Little Sisters of the
Assumption. Now in her eighties and living in Ballymun, she relives, via authors Dominic
Cogan and Chandra Manning, a life of unwavering commitment to social justice.
Lena is remembered by many as the 1980’s Ballymun nun on a motorbike! Joe Duffy recalls
her ‘flying around the main roundabout like a little red rocket’. Lena shared a flat with some
other Sisters in one of the eight-storey towers, a far cry from conventional convent living.
Many of the projects Lena was involved in still have a legacy: a Home Help service staffed
by local people, a Lone Parent support group and the Community and Family Training
Agency, which led to a social welfare information office and a job centre.
Lena left Ballymun in 1988. A former training colleague in Ballymun, who had a professional
connection to Harvard’s School of Education, encouraged her to study for a Master’s there.
The focus of her research was the situation of Irish immigrants in Boston. She became
involved in the Irish Immigration Centre and in just a few years she became its CEO, a role
she neither sought nor expected.
The IIIC began in the 1980s as a telephone advice line undocumented immigrants used to
support others on the margins. By 2000, it had outgrown its reliance on volunteers and had
evolved into a professional immigrant services organization. Lena’s vision met with
resistance and internal tension, yet dedication to anti-racism remained the foundation of the
IIIC. Drawing on her life experience, liberation theology, and a deep commitment to the
vulnerable, Lena Deevy built an intentionally different organization that brought people
together, worked collectively, and charted a different path forward, one that is needed today
more than ever.
Lena stepped down as IIC CEO and returned to live in Ireland in 2014. People could meet
her today and make assumptions about her life — a Catholic religious sister born in 1940s
Ireland — but her story challenges stereotypes and is a shining light for the incredible
voluntary work carried out by religious orders the world over.
About the Authors
Dominic Cogan has been involved in education in Ireland and internationally for many years
as both teacher and teacher trainer. As well as writing non-fiction, Cogan has written short
plays, short stories, and poetry.
Chandra Manning teaches U.S. history at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and is
the author of What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (2007)
and Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War (2016). She was a volunteer at
the Irish Immigration Centre in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Publisher: Ingram
Format: Trade paperback and e-book
ISBN: 978-1-0666417-0-3
How to buy
The book is available to buy on Amazon but you can also contact Dominic directly for a reduce price of €18.50 including post and packaging. Email Dominic at dominic.cogan@icloud.com
“I am struck by Sister Lena’s unstinting compassion.
She is a woman who implemented practices based on
diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) long before they
became recognised as important and sadly, long
before they were demeaned by those in power in the
U.S. and elsewhere today.”
Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland
“When the buses didn’t run, when the shops weren’t
built, when the bowling alley was still a dream, Sr Lena was the one who gave Ballymun its
pulse … If the Seven Towers honour our patriots, Ballymun knows an eighth name should be
there: Sister Lena, a true heroine.”
Joe Duffy, broadcaster and writer