The 22nd General Chapter of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland will commence on 3 June and close on 6 August.
Our prayer card with our Chapter theme and logo Mercying: Imaging the Face of God in All Creation, Misericordiando: Siendo Imagen del Rostro de Dias en toda la Creación can be downloaded here
We invite you to pray with us as we take the next steps in our Mercy journey.
Messages to: Elizabeth Marrie rsm – Chair of the Chapter Coordinating Committee
On September 29, 2010 Feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel and birthday of Venerable Catherine McAuley, Padre Victor was buried in the garden of his parish church in Reque, Peru.
Three days earlier, after weeks of serious illness and hospitalization, Padre Victor made his final life’s journey surrounded by loving prayer, song and attentiveness, hope and patient waiting of his people. Victor was much loved. He dedicated his life to being the padre to his parishioners and their families. He loved his life, his faith and his church and his God. He lived the joy of the gospel and stood strong in the face of injustice- he was fierce advocate for his people and cared not only for their souls but also for their dignity and rights. Padre Victor was a strong man yet sickness was stronger and defeated him, in body, but not in spirit nor in the legacy that he leaves to those who knew him. Padre Victor will not be forgotten.
Padres Emigido and Lucho have shared so much of life with Victor from their young days. The three were lovingly known as the three amigos. In speaking of Victor throughout the days before the funeral they stressed over and over his gift of love of life, his “Alegria” which he passed on to all, his total dedication to the people especially the “más pobres”, his untiring service not only to his parish, but nationally, to the whole diocese. There was lots of great singing led by Reque Parish choir, lots of clapping in the midst of the reflection, etc.
The funeral was an especially blessed moment. There were crowds in the thousands in the plaza where the funeral took place. The altar was set in the door of the church facing the plaza. The Bishop officiated with fifty-two priests attending. Among the priests were Eugene Roy from Ontario and Jose Alverez Calderon, a great liberation Theologian based in Lima. There was extensive lay participation in the Mass. After Mass, the body of Padre Victor was brought in procession around the plaza with a special ceremony in front of the Municipal building. His body was then taken to the garden in front of the church where Victor is now buried. There is a small plaque marking his burial place, but a bigger monument is being planned for. Words used to describe Victor were “the saint of Reque,” “our joyful, happy saint in heaven,” and “the alma (spirit) of catechesis familiar. ”Victor was known and loved by many Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland and by some of the priests who worked with him in Peru. He is sorely missed.
Tu nos has muerto; viveras en nuestros corozones y te recordaremos
This CBC GEM one hour documentary about the Presentation and Mercy Sisters of Newfoundland and Labrador was produced by Kenneth Harvey, a Canadian novelist, journalist and film-maker. It premiered on CBC Gem on 15 March 2022.
“The Presentation Sisters and Sisters of Mercy have stopped accepting new nuns into their orders in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the years to come, both orders will disappear as we know them. Their orders have transformed into vehicles for social justice and environmental issues but now there are no longer young women who have the calling.”
The Report on Mercy Global Presence ‘Weaving a New Fabric of Mercy Through Global Contemplation and Ecological Conversion’ is available for download in English and Spanish.
This report summarises the foundational steps which led to the Mercy Global Presence process – the Mercy International Research Conference, the Theological Advisory Commission proposal, and the Mercy International Reflection Process. It then outlines the process which unfolded. It contains details of each of the four segments and sixteen themes. It includes reflections from the participants on their experience and learnings from their active engagement in the process. It summarises the fruits of the six sets of regional gatherings. It also acknowledges the impact of the global pandemic on our world and, therefore, on Mercy Global Presence.
May your reading of this report be for you a catalyst in your own lived experience of mercying flowing from contemplative presence and flowing into contemplative presence. May it give you deeper insight into the beauty, the depth, the global reach, and the blessed moment in time that was Mercy International Association’s Mercy Global Presence process.
Download the report: English: A4, US Letter. Spanish: A4, US Letter
On 25 May, Up Sky Down Films documentary Mercy was screened on CBC tv. The programme was filmed at Mercy Convent, Military Road, Newfoundland, now closed after 180 years and which will become part of The Gathering Place community health centre, enabling it to expand its services to vulnerable members of St John’s population.
Featuring Sr Rosemary Ryan, the impact of the Sisters of Mercy is told by some of our former students, including former St. John’s mayor, Shannon Duff, the CBC’s own Mary Walsh, and Susan Quinn, the founder and Artistic Director of QVE (Quintessential Vocal Ensemble).
Susan’s long-time desire to pay tribute to “Mercy” and to get back into the convent chapel, where she sang so often as a child, one last time before it closed, led to this documentary (15:44), filmed two weeks before the convent closed.
On Sunday, 22 May, 2022, St Clare’s Mercy Hospital, St John’s, NL, celebrated 100 years of ministry to the sick and vulnerable of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Established by the Sisters of Mercy, today Eastern Health continues our legacy of providing compassionate and caring healthcare services to the people of the province, delivered and supported by almost 500 dedicated staff and health-care professionals at St Clare’s.
“It is a privilege for me to give thanks on behalf of all Sisters of Mercy and our associates as we mark the 100th anniversary of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital,” said Congregational Leader, Sister Diane Smyth. “I speak with gratitude for all those who shared their gifts, talents, time, expertise and love to ensure that every aspect of human life was cared for – body, mind and spirit. For 100 years St. Clare’s has stood proud of its history and heritage and its standards of excellence.”
Read the press release from Eastern Health to mark the occasion.
To mark the centenary, Eastern Health produced this video of the ritual of gratitude (54.23).
Sacred Garden at Baggot Street – Holder of Holiness
11 November 2019
This September we joined with many Sisters of Mercy, Associates and others around the world to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Mercy International. The renovation of our founding house at 64A Baggot Street and its establishment as a Mercy Centre for pilgrimage, heritage, hospitality and spirituality has proven to be a blessing for Sisters of Mercy around the world, for our colleagues and for many of us personally. This year we celebrate twenty-five years! We are definitely an international group connected by our common history, heritage and spirituality!
So now in September 2019, the 192th anniversary of the opening of the House of Mercy, the sacred garden at Baggot Street has been renewed and re-dedicated with blessing and celebration. The presence of so many Sisters of Mercy, Associates and colleagues (in person and via modern technology) was definitely an unprecedented international celebration throughout the Mercy world! We are delighted that Patricia, Monica and Elizabeth had prominent roles in these celebrations!
In 1841 shortly after her death, Catherine McAuley was buried in the convent garden at Baggot Street thus making it sacred and holy ground. The next Sister of Mercy to be buried there, one month after Catherine, was Anne Fleming (Sr. Mary Justina), niece of Bishop Fleming. Anne was in the novitiate at Baggot Street and professed on the same date, August 19, 1841, as Marianne Creedon (Sr. M. Francis), Foundress of the Mercy community in Newfoundland. We know that Francis was present with Catherine in her dying and would have been part of the prayer and burial in that garden as well as the burial of her novitiate companion, Justina Fleming, soon after. Bishop Fleming was in Dublin in November 1841 and we might surmise that he was present at Catherine’s funeral and burial and perhaps, the burial of his niece! Thus the garden at Baggot Street takes on additional meaning and significance to us here in Newfoundland.
We have been offered a virtual visit to the garden:Remembering in the Sacred Garden, Baggot Street in this video:
Let us take a few moments to go to the garden at Baggot Street in Dublin, to think about Catherine McAuley, Justina Fleming and the other sisters buried there. Let us think about the hundreds of Sisters of Mercy buried in sacred grounds around the world. Let us remember them with gratitude and love. Let us remember Associates and colleagues who have died.
Also, on this November 11 we are called to remember men and women who died in the two World Wars! We remember them!
Photos: Anne Walsh
Catherine McAuley’s Death
In the evening of Thursday, November 11, 1841, Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, died of tuberculosis at the Convent of Mercy on Baggot Street, Dublin—the first of twelve convents she had established in the preceding decade. She was surrounded by members of the Baggot Street (editor: including sister Mary Francis Creedon), Booterstown, and Limerick communities, some of whom have left written eye-witness reports. Mary Elizabeth Moore (1806-1868), superior of the convent in Limerick, wrote ten days after Catherine McAuley’s death to the superior of the Mercy convent in Tullamore (founded in 1836):
She died the Death of the Just. Cautious as she was from bringing herself into notice unnecessarily in health she was still more so in sickness, waiting on herself even in her last agony, preserving to the last moment the same peace and serenity of mind which so eminently distinguished her through Life . . . . her first and last injunction to all was to preserve union and peace amongst each other . . . .
. . . . About five in the evening she asked for the candle to be placed in her hand.
We commenced the last prayers . . . .
When we thought the senses must be going and that it might be well to rouse attention by praying a little louder, she said: No occasion, my darling, to speak so loud, I hear distinctly. In this way she continued till 10 minutes before 8 when she calmly breathed her last sigh.
I did not think it possible for Human Nature to have such self-possession at the awful moment of Death but she had an extraordinary mind in Life and Death. (Letter to Mary Ann Doyle, 21 November 1841)
A Place of Pilgrimage: The Grave of Catherine McAuley
The earth grave in which the coffined body of Catherine McAuley was buried on November 15, 1841, is now sheltered by the small stone oratory built over the site in 1910 (Neumann, ed., Letters, 47). Of all the venues of pilgrimage at Mercy International Centre,
Catherine’s grave is the most frequented and the most profoundly reverenced. Here people stand, alone or in groups, in the early morning, during the day, or at twilight. Here they sense the presence of the God in whose providence Catherine McAuley had such great confidence. Here they sing hymns or pray silently or aloud in her spirit, sometimes using the words of her own “Suscipe”:
My God, I am Thine for all eternity; teach me to cast my whole self into the arms of Thy Providence with the most lively unlimited confidence in Thy compassionate tender pity.
Grant, O most Merciful Redeemer, that whatever Thou dost ordain or permit may always be acceptable to me; take from my heart all painful anxiety; suffer nothing to afflict me, but sin; nothing to delight me, but the hope of coming to the possession of Thee, my God, in Thy own everlasting Kingdom. Amen. (Limerick Manuscript)
In this spirit pilgrims to Catherine McAuley’s grave privately ask her to intercede for them and then confidently abandon their needs to God. Sometimes they leave flowers, candles, or handwritten notes; sometimes they take photographs. Always they depart with peace and gratitude for this experience.
Mary Sullivan rsm
Their Honours Mr. Frank and Patricia Fagan were hosts in the beautiful and historic residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. Former Presidents of the Auxiliary, past and currents members as well as a number of Sisters of Mercy and other friends were in attendance. Refreshments were graciously served by Government House staff. Guests and Governor Fagan and his wife mingled about the grand reception rooms.
The Governor spoke for a few minutes to commend the group on reaching this milestone and to thank them for the wonderful work that the Auxiliary members have done and continue to do on behalf of those who seek health and healing at St. Clare’s. With grace and hospitality he welcomed everyone to Government House and invited them to explore the rooms and enjoy the beauty and history of the building.
Sister Elizabeth Davis, Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, spoke a few words of greeting to the auxiliary and thanked them for their dedicated and generous service to St. Clare’s and to the patients and families who come there.
Then an address was given by Mrs. Joan Parker Crosbie, the first President of the Auxiliary:
Your Honours, Mr. and Mrs. Fagan, Sisters of St. Clare’s, President of the St. Clare’s Auxiliary, Auxiliary Past Presidents of the Auxiliary and friends:
It is hard to believe that it was fifty years since the beginning of the auxiliary. It was a very humble beginning but the enthusiasm of all the members was great. I would be amiss if I didn’t mention all the encouragement we received from Sister Mary Aidan, Sister Fabian and all the Sisters. The auxiliary reminds me of the proud oak tree that grows from a tiny acorn.
We had a great time starting the auxiliary and many new friendships were formed. We had a shower and members brought things to sell in the gift shop. We had a Ball at the Old Colony Club and an auction during the Ball. I only remember one item (to be auctioned) and that was Ray Guy’s salt and pepper cap. The paper from inside the rim was missing as he got short-taken out in the woods. Then there was the Sale of Work. We took our knitting needles, sewing machine and all Sisters joined in. They also made the wonderful fudge, which was the first thing to sell out.
I am now at an age that memories are important. I must say that my memories of St. Clare’s Auxiliary are very happy and proud ones. I never could imagine that it would grow to the size that it is today.
Congratulations to all the members over the 50 years that have made the auxiliary what it is today.
Appreciation to Governor Fagan was expressed by Leslie Darraugh, current President of the Auxiliary. Some photos were taken of many of the previous presidents who were in attendance. It was the end of a lovely and memorable event.
The people of St. Michael’s Parish invited any Sisters who could attend to join them for Mass, dinner and music. Twenty-one of us joined them for the special evening.
The crossing on the new ferry, the Legionnaire, was beautiful – calm and sunny. The Archbishop and eight priests joined us for the trip. We were met at the ferry by several Knights of Columbus who offered us drives if needed. We went directly to Church and joined the parishioners and many others who had come back home for the occasion.
The bell, used at the original St. Michael’s Church and preserved by St. Michael’s High School, was relocated to the grounds of the modern St. Michael’s Parish Church (build on the site of the Immaculate Conception Church after it had burned to the ground). Archbishop Currie blessed the bell, rang it and then invited a small choir from St. Michael’s School to lead us in O Canada and the Ode to Newfoundland. The bell has so much significance in joyfully in linking our built heritage with the geography of this Island.
We then went into the Church for Mass at which the Archbishop presided. The sanctuary was lovely, adorned by a single vase of red roses and new white altar cloths with gold embroidery. The School choir joined the adult choir to lead us in song. Members of the parish led the Liturgy of the Word. The Archbishop, in his homily, recalled some of our history on Bell Island right up to the present day with a special mention of Sister Phyllis’ pastoral presence. He reminded us that the Ode to Newfoundland was sung for the very first time at the opening of the first Catholic school on the Island in 1901!
Read more about the wonderful celebrations on Bell Island. Download the report here