In May of this year St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of its founding.
In this special year of celebration, the Congregational 
Leadership Team and the members of St. Clare’s Advisory Council made plans to celebrate Mercy Day at the hospital.
On September 27 we met for a special morning prayer in St. Clare’s chapel, along with a number of managers from the hospital. Following the prayer, members of both groups went through every unit and work- place in St. Clare’s, distributing the specially-designed anniversary pins, along with a package of Lindt chocolates for each staff member, a total of nearly 1300.
Managers and staff were most appreciative of the gesture, and were especially delighted to have the opportunity of meeting members of the Advisory Council and seeing the sisters around the units.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy had received word from Mary (Tarrant) Hodge early in August that the people of St. Lawrence, little St. Lawrence, Lawn and surrounding areas wanted to have a celebration to recognize the ministry of the Sisters of Mercy in those areas and to officially thank them. Three Sisters, Sister M. Rose Murphy, M. Xavier Tarahan, and M. Stanislaus Taylor, had arrived in St. Lawrence in 1871 and the last Sister to minister there was Sr. Lucia Walsh who left in 2009. Would the Sisters who had ministered, or who had come from there be able to attend the festivities planned on the weekend of October 20th and 21st, 2012, asked Mary? She insisted that the Congregational Leader HAD to be there! The Planning Committee would not entertain her absence but were willing to change the date of the event to suit her agenda. Elizabeth Davis was free to go on the 20th and 21st.
Saturday, October 20th was the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that we had had all year! Sisters from St. John’s left very early in the morning when traffic was light and the moose had not yet ventured out from their night’s haunts. The sun shone its mightiest, the sky was cloudless, the environment was ecologically correct and when we drove off the Trans-Canada and travelled down the Peninsula highway the splendor of the gold, yellows, browns and sometimes reds of the autumn leaves was absolutely breathtaking. Those of us with digital cameras were kept busy trying to capture the beauty before us. This was particularly difficult especially if our driver had no intention of letting us out of the car to shoot the scenery!
Upon arrival at Sandy Point, the sisters received an enthusiastic welcome from the people of Sandy point. The Evening Telegram of August 12, 1893 reported as follows:
She died at the age of 44, having been professed as a Sister of Mercy for fourteen years. A woman of great fortitude, zeal for mission and commitment to the ideals of Mercy instilled in her by Catherine McAuley, Francis gave her all to the Newfoundland mission.
Persistent efforts by Burin’s zealous pastor, Father Michael Berney, for whom the education of the children of his parish was of prime importance, finally convinced Mother Xavier Bernard to make a positive response to his entreaties. St. Anne’s Convent (pictured at right) opened on July 12, 1863. The founding sisters were: Irish-born Sister M. Liguori Carmody; Sister M. Xavier Tarrahan, a Newfoundlander; Sister M. Charles McKenna, also Irish; Mary McAuliffe, a postulant.