In 2024 there are seven ministries sponsored by and reporting to the Congregational Leadership Team: St. Patrick’s Mercy Home, St. Patrick’s Mercy Home Foundation, St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital Advisory Council, The Gathering Place, Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice, Belvedere Orphanage Fund and Misericordia Mission Fund.
Most of these ministries have legal status according to the Companies Act (Province of Newfoundland and Labrador), have a Board of Directors and a certain level of autonomy in the governance and management of their specific activities. Some have charitable status according to Canadian Federal standards.
As the members of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland increase in age and diminish in numbers the Congregation, in conversation with colleagues, is presently engaged in a discernment process regarding the future. A decision was made by the general assembly of the sisters, the 22 General Chapter (2021), to establish a legal entity that would oversee and carry out the governance of the various “sponsored ministries” of the Congregation. That entity, a legal corporation, was registered on August 10, 2023 as Mercy Wellsprings, Incorporated.
Purposes
- To govern, direct, and fund, as necessary, the various charitable ministries and activities that are carried out by certain entities related to the Congregation, being St Patrick’s Mercy Home, St. Patrick’s Mercy Home Foundation Incorporated, Misericordia Mission Fund Inc., Belvedere Orphanage Fund Inc. and The Gathering Place Incorporated (or any successor entities that may carry out such charitable ministries and activities). . .
- To promote health, ethical principles and values in health care, quality of health care, religion, and education in health care, for the benefit of patients, staff members, physicians and volunteers of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital . . .
- To promote education by providing scholarships and grants to other organizations that promote education . . .
- To govern, direct and fund, as necessary, the various charitable ministries and activities that are carried out by the Congregation through its charitable arm, Mercy Centre for Ecology and Justice (or any successor entity that may carry out such charitable ministries and activities), that are related to the care of Earth and Earth creatures
- To raise and distribute funds to any “qualified donee” . . .
- To create, govern, direct, and fund new entities or partnerships established for the purposes of carrying out any of the above purposes of the Corporation or other charitable purposes.
