Dominicans mourn Ushaw teacher Sister Cecily

Sister Mary Cecily Boulding OP, who taught systematic theology at the seminary at Ushaw from 1978 to 1996, passed away on December 27.

Born in 1933, Cecily was the fifth child of six children. One of her brothers, Peter, became a secular priest and her youngest sister joined the Benedictines, becoming the renowned Dame Maria Boulding of Stanbrook Abbey.

Cecily gained an Oxford blue in rowing, having studied for her first degree and Master’s at the university.

She joined the English Dominican Congregation of St Catherine of Siena in 1959 and professed in 1964.

Sister Cecily was a member of the AnglicanRoman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) commissions and the Faith & Order

Commission of the World Council of Churches and also worked on theological commissions for the United Reformed Church.

She was a prolific writer and translator and had many friends and colleagues in the northern dioceses because of her teaching career at Ushaw and her work as a theologian.

“Cecily became increasingly well known and probably the most notable Dominican woman of her generation,” wrote Dominican prioress general Sister Mary Teresa OP.

“I don’t believe from stories I have heard that she gave her students an easy ride, but she was held in great affection and wherever any of us went in recent years, we were always asked if we belonged to the same congregation as Cecily.”