ENGLAND, editorial team •
We knew she was sick, yet the news came as a surprise, when Father Bryan Cunningham informed and those who got the information forwarded it to so many others who had walked the way with Mary Cole: “Mary Cole died peacefully on Sunday 7th January 2024. Four of the friends who have been supporting and caring for Mary were with her when she died. It was only yesterday when Mary repeated to me: «It’s OK I am ready to go». —
Mary Cole
“She was ready in August when I went to visit her in England”, Sarah-Leah Pimentel from South Africa shares. The two, though years apart in age, were good friends, both passionate and professional translators, who had worked together as simultaneous translators at the Conference 2014, for Schoenstatt.org, and on the big translation project of Father Alexandre Awi’s book on Pope Francis; “She is my Mother”. “She wanted to go home. She lived an abundant life of prayer and mission and gave it all to Schoenstatt in the various communities and forms in which she lived. She’s a real example for us all. “
As Sarah-Leah says, Mary Cole lived an abundant life of prayer and mission, and gave it all to Schoenstatt. She worked for the Schoenstatt Fathers in Germany, and when she moved to England, cared for the Shrine and Cottage in Bolton, Manchester. She cared of her friends there, especially in times of sickness. She wanted to spread Schoenstatt in England, and even assumed the coordination of the Schoenstatt Pilgrim Mother Campaign without knowing anything about it – just in order to not miss a chance to spread Schoenstatt.
Many from the team of Schoenstatt.org remember her as a translator, and we felt honored that someone who usually worked translating Father Kentenich’s books and talks, and who had assembled a perfect glossary for translating German into English, from time to time worked for the more demanding translations into English, until the end of 2019, when she was already way into her eighties. By then, she had already found another passion: Schoenstatt TV. She dedicated love and time and made it a priority in her life.
We will miss her translation work, we will miss her sense of humor, her stories, her straight, sometimes blunt way of “putting all cards on the table”, never acting behind someone’s back. We miss her.
Requiem for Mary Cole will be celebrated at St John Fisher’s, Manchester Road, Kearsley, Bolton BL4 8QQ on Thursday 25th January at 11.30am, followed by cremation at 1.00pm at Overdale Crematorium, Overdale Drive, Bolton BL1 5BU .
The Requiem Mass will be live-streamed Link: Schoenstatt YouthUK
