FEATURE STORY - "Mercy: The Compassion for the Poor"
By Val O'Hara RSM.
Aurora continues our series telling the story of the various religious congregations of the diocese.

In a compassionate response to the needs of the poor in 19th century Dublin, Catherine McAuley, a laywoman, used her considerable fortune to relieve the poverty around her. In 1831, in order to ensure the continuity of her ministry, she founded a religious order, the Sisters of Mercy. Her aim was to serve the poor, the sick and the ignorant. Before her death in 1841, twelve convents had been established in Ireland and two in England.

The remarkable spread of the order after Catherine’s death brought her mission of mercy to far-flung places, including various parts of Australia. One of these was Singleton in the Hunter Valley at the request of Bishop James Murray, who was concerned about the withdrawal of state aid to denominational schools.

Ten Sisters from the Mercy community of Ennis, County Clare, under the leadership of the gifted Mother Mary Stanislaus Kenny, arrived in August 1875 to commence work in the schools.

The missionary zeal of those early pioneers was such that by the turn of the century they had answered the call of the poor and needy in the Hunter Valley, and had spread as far afield as Gunnedah and Broken Hill.

The distinctive black habits, white coifs and rosaries of yesterday’s Sisters of Mercy marked them immediately as “women of God”. They taught in our schools, they nursed in the Mater Hospital, they visited the sick in their homes.

So often we hear people asking questions: Where are these women today? Why do we not see them walking the streets, visible as nuns, witnessing to the Mercy of God? Have they gone forever, has the work of Mercy been completed and will we see them no more?

These women of Mercy still “walk the streets”, and the work of sharing the mercy of God still goes on.

With the coming of Vatican II and its insistence that each religious order look to its founder, the Singleton Sisters of Mercy engaged in loving research into Catherine McAuley. They also examined the relevance of what they did and where the needs of the poor now lay. They had come to the Hunter Valley in answer to a perceived need of the nineteenth century. Now they saw the changes that were occurring and began to change accordingly. While there were lay people now able to carry on the work in education and hospitals, there were many other areas which called for mercy and justice.

Catherine McAuley had begun her work dressed in the ordinary costume of a middle class woman; she and the first Sisters had walked the streets of Dublin, not obviously distinct from those to whom they ministered. So the “habits” of a lifetime were set aside and the Sisters began to engage in diverse ministries: in education and health, in pastoral care in parishes, in the care of the aged and sick in their homes, in spiritual direction, administration, working with indigenous peoples and refugees, and in the care of our heritage. Sisters are also active in university chaplaincy, the Mater and the public hospital, in market gardening, encouraging new skills in the unemployed, in gaol ministry, in recovery programmes for substance abusers and in the training of others in counselling skills.

If Catherine McAuley was working amongst us now, she would be the first to recognise needs and respond to them with generosity and the resources at her disposal. So it is with today’s Sisters - where they can work, they do; where they can’t do the work themselves, they train others, or sponsor individuals or groups to carry on Mercy ministries.

In Newcastle and the Lakes District about seventy employees of Mercy Community Services bring care and comfort to the aged and lonely in their homes; reach out to those who struggle with drug and alcohol abuse; provide a comfortable cuppa or a hot meal or just a listening ear.

Sr Therese Wilkinson who co-ordinates the neighbourhood aid arm of the Services sees it as a privilege to be with the suffering, the dying, and the lonely. Dedicated volunteers work with Therese.

When dealing with difficult or challenging clients Therese and her volunteers are always conscious of the words spoken and lived by Catherine McAuley: It is better to relieve 100 impostors if there be such, than to suffer one really distressed person to be sent away.

Sr Pat McGinty, working in pastoral care at John Hunter Hospital, sees her ministry encompassing compassion, care, concern, courtesy, confidentiality, common sense, and at least a touch of comedy. She calls this the Ministry of the ‘Seven Cs”. In a busy public hospital, there is not much time for “in depth” care as patients tend to have a shorter stay. It is not a calling for evangelisation, it is a constant need for respect, awareness and being in touch with reality. Pat’s is a ministry not only for patients, but for staff, families and friends. She is encouraged by Catherine McAuley’s words: the poor need help today, not next week and have great tenderness in all things.

Catherine saw education as the best means of drawing the poor out of the cycle of poverty and misery. It has always been a strong ministry of the Sisters of Mercy. Sr Pat Davidson works as a General Resource Teacher at St Paul’s, Gateshead. Her love of children, especially those with great needs, combined with her teaching skills and years of experience, enable her to support, challenge and encourage. Pat’s greatest reward comes when a child who has been struggling to read, suddenly ‘gets it’!

Pat supports the Religious Education Co-ordinator with school liturgies. She works in the garden with parents to provide a beautiful environment and strives to enhance the cultural aspects of education with the teaching of art and sewing.

Sr Margaret McLeod who works as Pastoral Assistant in East Maitland and Morpeth takes as her inspiration the following words from Catherine McAuley: We should be as the compass that goes around the Circle without stirring from its centre.

No matter which aspect of parish life Margaret is working on, Jesus Christ is the centre. Preparation for liturgy is very significant for her, as she sees it as the core event of many parish happenings. She likes to create constant reflective moments whereby parishioners may focus on Jesus and his teachings so that they may see the connections between Jesus and present day church. Margaret endeavours to support all functioning groups in the parish. At present, she is the co-ordinator of the sacramental programme - but is ready to pass on the banner as more and more lay people become skilled in this area.

The Mater Misericordiae Hospital concludes its Mission Statement with these words: The spirit of Mercy is a life-giving force, a sharing in the mission of Catherine McAuley to be with those in need and to offer, as she did, “the kind word, the gentle compassionate look and the patient hearing of sorrows.”

These words describe the ministry of Sr Pauline Murray, who is the registered nurse and accommodation manager at the Mater Villas. The villas provide a home for out-of-town patients undergoing cancer treatment. Pauline and her staff and volunteers work to make the villas homely, full of care and compassion. Many of those who stay, some for a week, others for as long as seven weeks, develop lasting friendships. The residents support each other, sharing their stories, joys and sorrows. The staff and volunteers are there to be with the patients in difficult physical, emotional and psychological times.

As Sisters of Mercy in today’s world these women and all of those who work with them, strive to be conscious of the call of their foundress: Sisters (people) of mercy should be particularly kind, the kindest people on earth, with the tenderest pity and compassion for the poor.

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