"Everybody Matters" by Sacred Heart Alumna Mary Robinson

Meet the Author: Mary Robinson

Born in Ballina, County Mayo in 1944, Mary Therese Bourke Robinson was a 1962 graduate of Mount Anville Secondary School in Dublin.  Her parents Aubrey Bourke and Tessa O'Donnell were both medical doctors and of their five children Mary was their only girl!

After graduation from Mount Anville, Mary considered becoming a nun as a means of making an impact in this world. This decision may have been prompted by the fact that Mary had a couple of Aunts that had entered religious life and she saw them as well respected with interesting careers in education.  In fact Mary's Aunt, Sr. Ivy Bourke, RSCJ was one of three pioneer religious to open the Sophia High School in Bangalore, India in 1948. However, the Reverend Mother at Mount Anville advised Mary to take a year to think about what she wanted to do and so she went to Paris. Later Mary studied law at Trinity College in Dublin and Harvard Law School.  

In 1990, Mary Robinson became the seventh and first woman President of Ireland.  On September 12, 1997, Mary Robinson having resigned as President of Ireland a few weeks earlier became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a post she held until 2002.

In July 2009, Mary Robinson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she joins fellow Sacred Heart alums: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Jean Kennedy Smith, and Helen Hayes.

Currently Mary is serving as President and Chair of the Board of Trustees for Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice.

Overview of the book: "Told with the same calm conviction and modest pride that has guided her life, Everybody Matters will instill anyone who reads it with the belief that each of us can, in our own way, help to change the world for the better."

Click here to view the BBC interview Meet The Author: Mary Robinson.  To order a copy of her book click on the link to the right of this blog under Sacred Heart Alum Authors.