Irene McCormack

Irene McCormack (Kununoppin, 21 August 1938 – Huasahuasi, 21 May 1991), an Australian nun, was a member of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who worked as a missionary in Peru. She was assassinated in Peru in 1991 by members of Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path"), a Maoist rebel terrorist organisation.

Early life McCormack was born in Kununoppin, Western Australia, a small rural locality. In her youth she was said to be vibrant, determined, fun-loving; and an avid Australian football fan. McCormack was initially educated by the Sisters of St Joseph, and then boarded at Santa Maria College, Perth, she is said to have developed her two great loves: serving God and educating youth. At 15, she wanted to be a religious sister. She joined the Sisters of St Joseph in 1957, professing her first religious vows the following year.

McCormack was a teacher in Western Australia for the next 30 years. She was a petite woman and popular teacher and principal, but also known as feisty and demanding. She was an accomplished golfer and tennis player.

Missionary in Peru After decades teaching in Australian schools, McCormack felt called to serve Latin America's poor. She became a Peruvian missionary worker in 1987. She first worked in El Pacifico, a low income suburb in San Juan de Miraflores, Lima, and Santa de Perola in Distrito de San Martín de Porres. On 26 June 1989, she left to serve in Huasahuasi, high in the Andes Mountains about 200 km from Lima. McCormack and her companion, Sister Dorothy Stevenson RSJ, were asked to supervise the distribution of emergency goods by Caritas Peru.

McCormack continued her ministry of providing poor children with library facilities to aid their school homework, which they otherwise would not have had. She also trained extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion as well as visiting parishioners in the outlying districts. threatening residents and entering multiple homes. Four men were taken from their homes to the town's central plaza. Guerrilla band members also went to the convent, where McCormack was alone whilst Stevenson received medical treatment in Lima. Sendero Luminoso members did not enter the convent, ordering McCormack to come out, which eventually she did. She was marched to the plaza and made to sit on the benches alongside the four men.

For about an hour the five victims were harangued, interrogated and shouted at. Several local people interceded for the victims' lives, calling them good people and not wrongdoers. Sendero Luminoso retorted that they had not come for a "dialogue", but to "carry out a sentence".

At night, young villagers surrounded McCormack in darkness, managing to move her back into the crowd. The guerrillas noticed her absence, returning her to the bench. about six metres (about 20 feet) from the church door. Artist Rose Reilly has created two glass mosaic memorial pieces honouring McCormack. Resurrected Irene I, finished in 2007, is on display at the Mary McKillop Centre in South Perth. Resurrected Irene II is a large glass panel, and was completed in 2016. It is on display at the college.