Sister Gerard Fernandez
| Sister Gerard Fernandez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1938 Straits Settlements (Singapore) |
| Occupation | Nun |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| Church | Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd |
Gerard Fernandez (born 1938) is a Roman Catholic religious sister, best known for her work as a death row counsellor in Singapore.[1]
In over 40 years' career, Fernandez worked with 18 inmates on death row, some of the most notable of whom were Catherine Tan Mui Choo, and Hoe Kah Hong, the women accomplices of Adrian Lim in the murders of two children,[2] and Filipina double murderer Flor Contemplacion.[3]
Career
Fernandez said that at the age of six her father had her recite a verse "And I commit you to Sing Sing Prison, there to be hanged, drawn and quartered" as an enunciation drill. Shocked, she recited a prayer instead.[4] At the age of 18, she joined the Good Shepherd Sisters, a Roman Catholic order of nuns, at their convent in Marymount.[4] Sister Gerard undertook teacher training and taught primary school pupils at the convent from 1959 to 1962, and thereafter went on a mission to Jakarta for four years to work with troubled teenagers. She returned to Jakarta for another mission in 1972. When she returned to Singapore three years later, she founded the Roman Catholic Prison Ministry and began counselling incarcerated drug offenders. Through this work, Sister Gerard offered counselling to convicts on death row, and over the next few decades, she accompanied 18 condemned prisoners on their final walk to the execution chamber.[5]
Media
In 2018, the short film Sister[6] by Chai Yee Wei showed Sister Gerard and her counselling of Catherine Tan Mui Choo and Hoe Kah Hong before their deaths.[7]
In May 2019, Gerard gave a two-hour oral history interview to the Singapore Academy of Law, where she talked about her own life and the various condemned inmates she counselled while they were on death row in Changi Prison.[8] In the recordings,[9] she also described the final moments of prisoners such as Flor Contemplacion[10] and Van Tuong Nguyen[11] as she walked with them to the gallows on the morning of their executions.[12]
Awards
She is the first Singaporean woman to be included in the BBC's 2019 list of 100 Women, the most inspiring women across the globe.[13]
References
- Back to citation "Singapore - 81-year-old-nun-first-singaporean-included-in-bbcs-yearly-most-influential-women-list". msn.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Back to citation Iau, Jean (18 October 2019). "Singapore nun who counselled death row inmates on BBC list of inspiring women". The New Paper. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Back to citation "The story of Gerard, the Sister who comforted death row inmates". The New Daily Compass. 7 February 2020.
- Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Kim Hoh, Wong (25 December 2016). "It Changed My Life: 'My calling is people who are broken'". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Back to citation "'My calling is people who are broken'". The Asian Age. 15 May 2019.
- Back to citation "Sister by Chai Yee Wei". YouTube. 1 January 2019.
- Back to citation Lui, John (30 November 2018). "Short film about nun who counselled death-row inmates part of project to promote giving culture". The Straits Times. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Back to citation "HOLD MY HAND TILL THE END: AN INTERVIEW WITH SISTER GERARD FERNANDEZ". Singapore Academy of Law. 6 May 2020.
- Back to citation "FERNANDEZ, Gerard (Sister)Development of Singapore's Legal System, Accession Number E000784". National Archives Singapore. 15 May 2019.
- Back to citation "Mother Mary, Please Change Her Heart". The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore. 15 May 2019.
- Back to citation "Beauty in Brokenness by Sister Gerard Fernandez rgs". The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore. 15 May 2019.
- Back to citation "Transcript of first interview with Sister Gerard Fernandez". National Archives Singapore. 16 May 2019.
- Back to citation "BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list?". 16 October 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
External links
- A Letter With the Sacred Heart of Jesus - 2023 Vocare documentary regarding Sister Gerard Fernandez (YouTube)
- FERNANDEZ, Gerard (Sister) Development of Singapore's Legal System - 2019 oral history interview with Sister Gerard Fernandez for the Singapore Academy of Law
- 'Sister' by Chai Yee Wei - short film regarding Sister Gerard Fernandez and her counselling of Catherine Tan Mui Choo and Hoe Kah Hong before their executions (YouTube)