I thought the other day of a long-ago evening when my husband David said to my friend Veronica, “Veronica, in any properly ordered religion you’d be a bishop.”

I noted that she did not demur.

Veronica was Sister Veronica O’Reilly, then General Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Peterborough.

We were good friends, but David hadn’t met her before dinner that night. He was a trifle apprehensive, not being used to entertaining Roman Catholic nuns.

While I prepared dinner, they talked about many things. Veronica, who grew up on a farm in Ops Township, could hold her own with any academic, having both an earned PhD in English and Irish literature from the University of Toronto and an honourary Doctor of Laws from Trent.

David was clearly quickly taken with her because of both her personality and her high intelligence. He was right; she would........

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