“I can do all things in Him who strengthens me!” ( St. Paul ) This has been my motto for 52 years of my religious life. Many happenings in my early years contributed to my religious vocation. When I was in high school I belonged to the Legion of Mary, Sodality and the McAuley Guild in my home parish, Good Shepherd. My sponsor to enter religious life was a Sister of Mercy who helped me to see the beauty of Catherine McAuley and religious life.

My first mission as a Sister of Mercy was teaching in our Catholic Childcare Institution on Staten Island , St. Michael’s Home, for five years. I was missioned to my home parish for one year and returned to St. Michael’s as supervisor of home-life and caregiver to the high school young ladies. This ministry at St. Michael’s was very close to my heart as it was much like Catherine McAuley’s ministry to young women in need of care and guidance. This brought me to Mother Cabrini High School , where I counseled young women in grades 7-12 for 16 years.

My next mission was in Mercy Hospital in Port Jervis, where I gathered members of 25 departments and shared with them the life of Catherine McAuley and renewed my love for the wonderful works of Mercy. Uihlein Mercy Center in Lake Placid was my next mission, and again I was caregiver to four units of women and men who needed someone to listen to them and be with them and teach them about Catherine McAuley. 

Marian Woods in Hartsdale , New York , a retirement home for five congregations of religious women, was my next (and current) ministry. Being the Liason for 24 Sisters of Mercy was initially a challenge for me as I knew very few of them. Today, three years later, I can say I truly love my work there. The backgrounds of the sisters and their experiences in the works of Mercy have again made me realize what the work of Catherine McAuley has inspired in all Sisters of Mercy. 

I know and admire many Sisters of Mercy but one stands out in my mind as an inspiration to me: Sr. Concilia Moran. [It was she who said:]  

“Will the depths of our Mercy and compassion so influence others that they will keep alive our mission beyond their time and place into tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow?”