27 June, 2012.  On one of the few sunny afternoons in June more than 150 guests gathered at the St Louis High School in Rathmines for the Irish launch of New Horizons – the Sisters of St Louis in a Changing World.  Sisters, Associates, relatives, friends, colleagues, former pupils and many others were welcomed with a simple reception of wine and cheese, tea and biscuits.
 
Uainín Clarke SSL from the Sisters of St Louis Central Leadership Team spoke first at the launch, with a reflective and candid look at how the new book came to be written. She then introduced Dr Margaret MacCurtain OP, a respected historian and friend, who walked us through the chapters with insight, perspective and brief text references to whet our appetites. Dr MacCurtain was effusive in her praise of author Jo O’Donoghue’s style and grasp of St Louis life. Margaret wove into her talk, in a lively and provocative manner, her rich grasp of developments in Church, state and culture during the years spanned by this 65-year story of our Institute’s expansion.
 
Uainín next introduced the author and publisher of New Horizons, Jo O’Donoghue, who regaled us with joyous stories from her many encounters with those Sisters and Associates interviewed for the project.
 
On behalf of CLT, Uainín thanked all who had been instrumental in bringing this written story to birth: all who had offered to be interviewed, first draft readers, those who helped with the launch event and most especially those who served tirelessly on the Editorial Committee with her – Anne Jordan and Deirdre O’Connor.
 
The event came to a beautiful conclusion with a sung blessing for everyone present, Sing We, Sing of a Blessing. People were in no hurry home and took time to catch up with old friends. There was also an opportunity for our guests to purchase a copy of New Horizons and to get it autographed by the author if they so wished.  In excess of 150 copies were sold at the launch.