Sisters of Mercy Elect New Leadership
The Sisters of Mercy – Northeast Community held its second Assembly to elect new leadership and to approve updates to its Governance Plan in order to live the values and mission of the Community. More than 375 participants gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, from March 11-15, for the event.
The five sisters elected to serve for the next four years on the Community Leadership Team are: Lindora Cabral, RSM, president, Jacqueline Marie Kieslich, RSM, vice president; and team members Donna Conroy, RSM; Kathleen Turley, RSM; and Patricia Sullivan, RSM. Their term will begin July 1, 2010.
The Northeast Community consists of 1,100 Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Associates and Companions in Mercy living in the geographic areas of Albany, New York; Connecticut; New Hampshire; Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; and Vermont. After considerable planning, the Community united on July 1, 2006. The merger provided a greater opportunity for the sisters to focus on their commitment to service, to enrich their partnerships and to enhance their connectedness with one another.
The Sisters of Mercy are an international community of vowed Roman Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Ireland in 1831. Frances Warde established the order in the United States in 1843. Responding to the changing needs of those they serve, the sisters have modified their operating structure many times over the years, finding new ways to follow founder Catherine McAuley’s philosophy, which is to serve those who are poor, sick and uneducated, especially women and children.
Assembly Actions for Northeast Community
The Sisters of Mercy - Northeast Community committed to the following actions at the Community's Assembly, March 15, 2010.
Reclaiming Catherine's Passion in our Relationship with the Church
We participate in the prophetic role of the Church when we model, as did Jesus and Catherine, inclusivity, acceptance and right relationships as we live our vowed lives in service. In living out of Catherine's legacy of Union and Charity, we recognize and reverence the gift of diversity among us. We are risk takers who stand with the marginalized and who speak our truth on controversial issues of justice.
As Church, Eucharist is central to our spirituality and faith. We value Eucharist as a celebration of presence, community and service. However, we sometimes struggle with participation because of our experience of Church. (Summary Statement from Dialogues Group, May 2009)
As Sisters of Mercy of the Northeast Community, we commit ourselves
- To support the ongoing work of the Institute and Community leadership teams as they continue to speak with integrity with the Institutional Church and respond to the Apostolic Visitation
- To engage in study on, dialogue and prayer about our prophetic call as women religious and to determine among ourselves how much we are willing to risk to remain faithful to that call within the Church
- To encourage one another to participate in a monthly day of fasting and prayer for inclusivity, acceptance and right relationships within the Church.
Reclaiming CatherineÍs Passion in our Relationship with Creation
"We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace." (Earth Charter)
We affirm the Mercy Northeast Land Ethic Statement and in the light of that, we commit ourselves
- To endorse placing in conservation some eligible* parcels of open land
- To respond to the call to communal transformation through the study of eco-theology, creation spirituality and environmental issues
- To act to reduce our carbon footprint by the ways we use EarthÍs resources, personally and communally.
*Eligible - open land with inherent ecological importance as natural habitat, living ecosystem, protector of water
Reclaiming CatherineÍs Passion in our Relationships
As Sisters of Mercy of the Northeast Community, we commit ourselves
- To engage in prayer, dialogue and action in regard to new membership, Mercy Association, Companions in Mercy, Mercy Volunteer Corps, and other forms of participation in light of our prophetic call and our relationship within the Church.
Affirmed March 15, 2010
Community leadership award
Sister Gail Waring, vice president for mission services at St. Peter’s Health Care Service in Albany, New York, is the New York State Public Health Association’s choice for its 2009 Community Leadership Award. Gail was selected because of her accomplishments in expanding charity care and other health programs for the neediest in the community.
The annual Community Leadership Award gives the New York State Public Health Association (NYSPHA) the opportunity to recognize an outstanding New Yorker who has demonstrated proven excellence in mobilizing the community toward the prevention of disease and promotion of public health.
“Sister Gail is a shining example of how one person makes a difference in a whole community’s public health system,” said Martha Pofit, executive director of the NYSPHA.
The award was presented at the NYSPHA’s annual meeting on April 3 in Colonie, New York.
Gail was honored for her support of community-health planning at St. Peter’s Health Services, along with the Neighborhood Based Alliance, the Healthy Capital District Initiative (HCDI) and other organizations. Her work has resulted in the creation of numerous new or expanded health
services including school-based dental programs, enrollment programs for public health insurance applicants, neighborhood-based addiction recovery services, pediatric care and dental services.
With the support of the leadership of St. Peter’s Health Care Services, Gail has also protected vulnerable populations by developing St. Peter’s Charity Care program which enables more than one thousand St. Peter’s patients to receive free or subsidized health services each year.
Kevin Jobin-Davis, executive director the HCDI, said “Sister Gail’s commitment to understanding and addressing the health needs of the most vulnerable populations in our community has improved thousands of lives and honors the legacy of Sister Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy.”
First Institute-wide Sponsors Council meeting
 The 15 members of the Northeast Sponsor Council gathered in Parsippany, New Jersey, from April 2-4, with other Sponsor Council members from across the Institute for the first conference for Mercy Sponsor Councils.
The idea for this event originated when three Directors of Sponsorship - Sisters Lorraine LaVigne (Northeast), Margaret Taylor (Mid-Atlantic), and Georgine Scarpino (NyPPaW), and Associate Director for Sponsorship Nancy Parent Bancroft (Northeast) - decided to gather their respective Sponsor Council members to share, reflect, educate and collaborate during this two-day meeting. They also invited Sponsor Council members from the West Midwest and South Central Communities to attend the conference.
Participants from the Northeast Community included Sister Lorraine LaVigne, Nancy Bancroft, other Sponsor Council members, and leadership representatives, Sisters Eileen Dooling, Maureen McElroy and Michele Aronica.
Sister Judith Carey (Northeast), vice-president for mission integration at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, served as the facilitator and as a presenter. She shared her knowledge and expertise about the role of governance in mission integration. "It is critical that the Sisters of Mercy, through their Sponsor Council, ensure that their living mission and core values permeate each ministry that they sponsor," said Judith.
Other presenters included Sister Mary Trainer, Ph. D., (Mid-Atlantic), director of Cranaleith Spiritual Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Martha Conroy, director of sponsorship education and ministry formation, Catholic Health East; Sister Corinne Raven (West Midwest), director of Network for Mercy Education; and Marguerite Stapleton, former vice-president for mission effectiveness, St. Mary's Health System, Lewiston, Maine.
 Sister Pat McDermott (ILT) explained the affirmation of sponsorship at the 2005 Institute Chapter, and Sister Linda Werthman (ILT) discussed some of the future challenges that affect sponsorship, such as the current economic reality and decline in the number of vocations.
"Sponsored ministries are like grown children," says Cynthia Murray Beliveau, member of the Northeast's Sponsor Council and mother of four. Paraphrasing Khalil Gibran, the writer of The Prophet, Cynthia says, "The sisters gave the ministries their roots, now it is time for the sisters to give the ministries their wings and to open up a whole new world of working with Sponsor Councils who will help ensure their mission." By Debbi Della Porta, Director of Communications (Mid-Atlantic)
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