Mary Pat Kelly ’67, Ph.D. is a storyteller and a good one at that. Her works include the bestselling Galway Bay, Of Irish Blood and Irish Above All. Her film works include award-winning PBS documentaries To Live For Ireland, Home Away From Home: The Yanks In Ireland and Proudly We Served: The Men of the USS Mason. She wrote and directed the dramatic feature film, Proud starring Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea based on the USS Mason story of the only African American sailors to take a World War II ship into combat.
Kelly was recently on the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) to re-release her oral history book, Martin Scorsese: A Journey which was first published in 1991.
One of Kelly’s most treasured stories is her providential journey that began at The Woods. She went to an all-girls school in Chicago that was taught by the Sisters of Providence. “It was 1962 and it was cool to be Catholic with John F. Kennedy being elected President and Pope John. There was a feminist element to it.” It was the long-lasting impression of the nuns she was taught by that drew her to SMWC. “I came to The Woods at 17 years old,” she said about her decision. “The education was fantastic, and the companions were tremendous.”
As an English major at The Woods, she would pin writing pieces to the Creative Bulletin Board that was up at the time and submit items to Aurora Magazine (the College’s more than 150-year-old literary magazine).
Her relationship started with Scorsese through a reprint of a magazine article that she found in 1966. “Sister Mary Olive had a reading room just off the little theatre in Guerin Hall. There was an article about his short film, It’s Not Just You Murray, that had just won the Producer’s Guild Award for Best Student Film. “I decided that I wanted to do my senior thesis about a comparison of that film to James Joyce’s short story, Grace.” Her comparison consisted of Scorsese’s film’s lead character and the quandary of being a good Catholic and still being a gangster and Joyce’s main character of being a good person and still being a businessman. She asked Sister Marie Denise to type a letter to the NYU film school to Scorsese about her idea. “If it wasn’t for Sister Marie Denise, I would not have made that connection. She even had to give me a stamp.”
After the film canister arrived, they set up a projector in the basement of Le Fer. After watching the film, she wrote back to the director. “I got back a 16 or 17-page letter with things like tracking shots and other information about the film. He also sent me a bibliography with about 15 books, and I went to the librarian and she ordered them.” During her visit, she visited the library and found that most of the books are still there.
Scorsese’s first feature film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door, was shown at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1967 and Kelly requested permission to attend. “So, I went up to Chicago to see Martin’s first feature film. There I was, this nun in a habit going into the Playboy Theater,” recalled Kelly. Roger Ebert was a new film critic and was in attendance. He wrote the first published review of the film and it helped to launch Scorsese’s career.
She left the order because she felt that she could do more good in the world not being a nun. “I was called to be a part of what was happening, and I felt that I needed to be a part of that.”
Kelly has numerous stories about her travels in Ireland and time spent with John Hume and his peaceful alternatives to the differences in Northern Ireland, or her meetings with the crew of the USS Mason, the story of the only African American sailors to take a World War II ship into combat or her research for her Irish novels based on her family.
The re-release of Martin Scorsese: A Journey, is in time for Scorsese’s 80th birthday and the release of his new film Killers of the Flower Moon. The new edition has a forward by Steven Spielberg, a new forward by Leonardo DiCaprio along with additional material and a conversation with Scorsese about his new film.
Scorsese was not able to make the press conference for Kelly on campus for her re-release, but sent along some comments that were read to the attendees. His remarks in part were, “Over 50 years ago I responded to a letter from Mary Pat, then a young nun-in-training at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She had read about the Producer’s Guild Award my student film “It’s Not Just You, Murray” had won and wished to study it for her senior thesis as a way of learning about movies. I sent her the print, a bibliography and my evolving ideas about filmmaking. That correspondence led to a connection that endures to this day.”
During the press conference, Kelly also dedicated bricks to the Garden of Reflection outside of the Knoerle Sports and Recreation Center to her parents and to Martin Scorsese’s parents. A rendering of the bricks was unveiled to the attendees by Kelly.
It is obvious that Kelly has applied her seemingly endless enthusiasm to her life. She views everything with an eye on how to tell a story and it has served her well. Her efforts now are on writing a musical based on her book, Special Intentions.
She feels that Providence has guided her all her life. “When you talk about Providence, the interests of my life have all intertwined and it all started at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.”