'Helping people has a huge reward': Sr Stan on the power of finding inner peace

Social campaigner Sr Stan used lockdown to compile a book in which she reaches out and explores how we can find inner peace. She shares some if her wisdom with Marjorie Brennan

Sr Stan: ‘Gratefulness is one breath away from peace.’

Chatting to Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (fondly known to all as Sr Stan) is an immensely calming experience. A beacon of serenity, her soft and soothing voice radiates down the phone line from her home in Dublin’s inner city, where for years she has worked on behalf of the vulnerable in society and campaigned for the homeless as a member of the congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity, founding voluntary organisations such as Focus Ireland, The Immigrant Council of Ireland and Young Social Innovators. She is also a bestselling author and has recently compiled Finding Peace, sharing the contributions of people, from celebrities to politicians, writers, sportspeople and others, in an effort to understand how they find peace in their lives. It is a timely and insightful read, as we all struggle to achieve some sort of emotional equilibrium amid the uncertainty of Covid.

Sr Stan has long been an advocate of the benefits of contemplation and stillness, in 1998 founding The Sanctuary at her base in Stanhope St, to provide a space for reflection in a frantic and busy world.