I’d like you to meet 100-year-old nun, Sister Veronica Dunphy, who’s on Whatsapp and has never said no to a spot of hang-gliding or a cruise on a Harley Davidson.
For her recent 100th party, she received birthday wishes from the Pope (not the King, apparently, as she’s a New Zealander and not on our electoral roll but that didn’t fuss Sister Veronica) and she had a real knees-up with 80 friends at the local footy club to celebrate.
“I love life, I love living,” Sister Veronica says from her sunny flat in Hackett. “I’m not special, people say I am but I’ve just followed my calling. I didn’t choose this life, it was chosen for me.”
Veronica retired from her duties at 90, took a trip to Germany (no travel insurance) and today lives in north Canberra with her young flatmate, 90-year-old Sister Joy. Her birthday bash saw cards delivered from all over the world – from Canada to Germany to Africa – where she’s worked as a member of a Catholic international order for women, Society of the Sacred Heart.
“I feel lucky to have had a blessed life, I’ve been looked after by the church and I’ve never had any worries,” she said. “I’ve been lucky.”
Veronica loves socialising and she does this through gardening with the Canberra Organic Growers Society and teaching local college students how to make jam and chutney.
“I love connecting with people, especially young people. We should all be more accepting of one another and learn to live with one another. Not just work alongside people or tolerate each other but accept each other and live with each other,” she says.
“Life is a mystery, every breath I breathe in is a mystery. I have been on a long spiritual journey and I still love life’s mystery. ”
A recent bout of Covid didn’t even slow her down (she still lugs bags of topsoil around the community garden) and she’s just renewed her driver’s licence for another 10 years.
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