If you wish to join us for the Requiem Mass for S. Teresa Lenahan, please arrive at New Hall Chapel by 10.45am on Friday 23 May 2025, for the start of Mass at 11.00am.  Many of you will know of S. Teresa, from her 50 years’ living in Community, first at New Hall and then in Colchester.  We are grateful to her for this lifetime of devoted service and prayer, and for all the lives that she touched with her care.  Whether or not you knew Teresa personally, you are welcome to join us in praying for Teresa and our founding Religious Community, and their families and friends, who will be coming together for the Requiem Mass.

Following the Mass, the coffin will be carried from the Chapel, through the grounds at the front of School.  We will be halting traffic movement during this time.  The burial will take place at the Cemetery of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, which is accessed along a footpath through the Wilderness woodland at the front of New Hall.

There will be refreshments in The North Gallery, following the burial.  If you wish to attend, please would you email confirmation of names of those who will be at the Mass to Miss Olsen, PA to Principal, on l.olsen@newhallschool.co.uk, including whether you plan to stay for refreshments afterwards.  If you know of Old Fishes and former staff who knew Teresa, please help us to spread the word of the date and time, should they wish to come. 

If you are unable to attend and would like to participate online, the link for live broadcast of the Requiem Mass is as follows:

https://youtube.com/live/5flJwcV2wwI?feature=share

Please keep Teresa and the Religious Community in your thoughts and prayers at this time.

Eternal rest grant unto Teresa, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 

S. Teresa Lenahan CRSS

After schooling in Wales, Teresa went to Digby Stuart College for her teacher training qualification, and then went on VSO to Uganda, where she spent two years teaching at a school in Gulu.

She came to New Hall in 1975 and joined the Religious Community, making her final vows in 1981.

She was a Teacher of Religious Education and Drama.  Later, she became Southwell’s Housemistress and Head of Sixth Form.

She was elected as Sub Prioress in 1990.  For 18 years, from 2002-2020, she served as Prioress.

In 1997, she led an experiment in Canonical Living in Leytonstone before returning to New Hall.

After the Religious Community set up New Hall School Trust to continue their Catholic educational mission, Teresa moved away from New Hall, living in Community on the Greenstead estate in Colchester.  In the Colchester area, she engaged in a variety of local spiritual, ecumenical and pastoral initiatives.