Sister Eileen was a life-long learner whose interests ranged from the findings of the James Webb Space Telescope focused on the edge of the universe to the rocks forming the foundation of New York City. Her contemplative heart turned to poetry to express these wonders she found in God’s designs.

Sister Eileen Teresa Kelly, Sister Vincent Rosaire, was born November 2, 1936, in the Bronx, New York, one of three children, two daughters and one son of Patrick and Julia Sullivan Kelly. For her early school years, Eileen attended Holy Spirit and Saint Anthony Schools and high school at Villa Maria Academy, all in the Bronx. She attended college for one year before entering the Sisters of Charity of New York on September 8, 1955. Sister Vincent earned a BS in Science from College (now University) of Mount Saint Vincent and an MS in Chemistry from Saint Louis University, Missouri.

Sister Eileen’s 57 years of active ministry were dedicated to education from young ages through adults. She began teaching at Saint John the Baptist, Brooklyn, and then Saint Ignatius Loyola, Manhattan. She was next assigned to Saint Raymond Academy for Girls, the Bronx, where she taught for twelve years, followed by three years at Saint Joseph-by-the-Sea, Staten Island. In 1978, Sister Eileen was missioned to the Bahama Islands where she served for the next 25 years. She taught Religion at Saint Augustine College and, by assignment of the Bishop of Nassau, served as Co-Director of the Permanent Diaconate Program for the Diocese of Nassau and as Administrator of the Catholic Communities on Cat Island. Bishop Lawrence Burke, later Archbishop, received Vatican approval to confer the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (For Church and Pope) medal on Sister Eileen for her outstanding service for the Church in the Bahamas.

Upon her return to the United States in 2003, Sister Eileen became a staff member of the Center of Renewal and Education for Sullivan and Orange Counties at two separate intervals, teaching and leading programs in adult faith formation. In 2004, Sister Eileen had sabbatical time at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. She later served as adjunct instructor in the LIFE Program offered at Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh. In later retirement years, Sister Eileen lived at the Kittay Senior Apartments in the Bronx. She died May 6, 2024, at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in the sixty-ninth year of commitment as a Sister of Charity of New York.

Sister Eileen was a life-long learner whose interests ranged from the findings of the James Webb Space Telescope focused on the edge of the universe to the rocks forming the foundation of New York City. Her contemplative heart turned to poetry to express these wonders she found in God’s designs. She had the opportunity to spend time with Dorothy Day and to correspond with Thomas Berry, Catholic priest and scholar on the universe.

Sister Eileen, as you leave the limitations of this life and surrender to the unlimited abundance of Love, you will be embraced by the beauty of our incomprehensible God. This is your peace.