Address given by Sr Diane Smyth at the Farewell for Sr. Dorothy Willcott, Marystown, Burin Peninsula, 11 August 2024 – Farewell to the Sisters of Mercy
The first Convent of the Sisters of Mercy was established in St. John’s, NL. In 1842. This foundation was made from the Mother House of the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, founded by Catherine McAuley only 11 years earlier.
Since the arrival of Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland we have had a long-standing relationship with the Burin Peninsula. Over the years nearly 100 sisters of Mercy have come to the peninsula to minister in the schools, parishes and communities here. Many women born here joined the Sisters of Mercy!
Our first foundational venture to the Burin Peninsula was on July 12th, 1863. Six Sisters of Mercy arrived in Burin, a bustling community of about 2000 residents. Four of these sisters established a convent and taught in the school. Other sisters were transferred to the Burin convent over the years where they taught and visited the poor and the sick in the parish until the convent closed in 1939.
Another Mercy convent was established in St. Lawrence in 1871 and a third in Marystown in 1927. Sisters also formed a community in Rushoon in 1971 until 2001. Sr. Barbara Kenny was the last Sister of Mercy in that area, then living in Parker’s Cove. The large convent in St. Lawrence had been closed and Sr. Mary Lucia Walsh, the lone sister residing there rented a small house. In 2009 there was a grand farewell celebration of her and the Sisters of Mercy presence. Hardly had she returned to St. John’s when two more Sisters of Mercy sought to return to live in St. Lawrence, Sisters Gladys Bozec and Ellen Marie Sullivan. Sr. Gladys was the last to leave in 2023.
In 1927 the first Mercy community of Marystown lived in the former presbytery until a new and larger building was constructed. The large Holy Name of Mary Convent was closed in 2011 and eventually transferred to the Status of Women Council to provide shelter for women in need, a project close to our Mercy heart! Sr. Theresa March moved from that house to a small house just up the road and continued to serve until 2016, when Sister Dorothy came to minister here. Sisters of Mercy, Sr. Maureen Lawlor, Nellie Pomroy and Mona Rumboldt also spent many years in parish and community ministry in other parts of the Burin Peninsula, namely Lamaline, Terrenceville and Grand LePierre. In the 1960s small bands of young sisters came during the summer to the small isolated communities around the Burin Peninsula to provide catechetics and prepare students for the reception of the Sacraments.
This is a very brief history of the Sisters of Mercy and the Burin Peninsula, You will find many more details in Sr. Kathrine Bellamy’s history, Weavers of the Tapestry, a history of the Mercy Sisters in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Today is another historic moment in the life of the community, the local church and the Sisters of Mercy. We are gathered to bid farewell to Sr. Dorothy Willcott who has been here in Marystown since 2016. She also spent time here as teacher in 1978-83. Dorothy will leave within the next few weeks, the last Sister of Mercy to reside on the Burin Peninsula. (That is what we think at this moment! Who knows!) There is a small group of women who are Associates of the Sisters of Mercy who will keep
the spirit of Mercy alive! We sincerely hope that the “spirit” of Mercy, the values of mercy, compassion, kindness, hospitality and love prevail and continue to live on in the men women and children of the local communities.
You know what it is like to have the lingering scent of perfume or shaving lotion remain after the person has left. We hope that the legacy of the Sisters of Mercy will linger like that, but not just for the moment! We hope that that the lessons, the values, the beliefs, the scent if faith, hope and love, will linger for a long time to come.
On behalf of all Sisters of Mercy I extend our warm gratitude to the people of the Burin Peninsula, especially of the many communities where we have been welcomed and cared for, where we have been embraced, nurtured and supported since 1863. We are grateful to Sister Dorothy today for her commitment and presence here in Marystown. We are grateful to all the Sisters of Mercy who havededicated part of their lives here in ministry in education, music, arts and pastoral care. We are
especially grateful to those young women of the Burin Peninsula who joined the Sisters of Mercy and dedicated their lives to the following of Jesus and serving as his heart, hands and feet in this area and beyond.
We leave behind in sacred burial places on the Burin Peninsula, Burin and St. Lawrence, the bodies of some of our Sisters. We leave them in your safe-keeping and care. May they intercede for you and for this area of our province.
This may seem to be a day of ending and loss, but it is more a day of deep gratitude and appreciation for all that has been and a day of great hope and confidence that God’s Spirit is with his people.
We have been privileged to walk with you! May you have the faith and courage to continue to be pilgrims in hope and trust. Our church is on a synodal journey- let us continue to walk together in faith, trust and hope.
