Mount Mercy Academy recently celebrated two important events related to its founding and history. The school celebrated Mercy Day on Sept. 23 and recognized Catherine McAuley’s birthday on Sept. 29.
Mercy Day is the feast that honors the day that Catherine McAuley founded the religious order, the Sisters of Mercy. It is also the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy. On this day in 1827 the House of Mercy on Baggot Street was opened as a school for young girls and residence for homeless women and girls, marking the formal beginning of Catherine McAuley’s mission of mercy. Today the Sisters of Mercy are present in 46 countries, working to actively share Catherine McAuley’s legacy with people around the world.
The students and staff participated in several different activities during Mercy Day. The day began with a mass celebrated in the Mercy Chapel with the Sisters of Mercy. Students proclaimed the readings during mass and the music students provided the music. After the mass, several students served donuts to the sisters. The rest of the student body rotated between listening to two speakers and playing Mercy Bingo and watching a video about Catherine McAuley. Sister Peggy Gorman, RSM, a past member of the Academy’s Board of Trustees and a volunteer at the school, informed the students about the life and works of service of Catherine McAuley, and Christy Boeckel, a senior co-pastor at Living Water Church, stressed the importance of a life of service to the students.
The students also created chalk drawings outside the school and convent. Students used the chalk to highlight inspirational quotes from Catherine McAuley. In addition, students created chalk squares to honor the Sisters of Mercy who were celebrating their jubilee anniversaries. The day concluded with the students participating in various service projects.
Earlier in the week the music students walked to Mercy Hospital and sang for patients and their guests.
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 29, 1778. The school celebrated with tea parties. The senior class went to the convent and had tea with the sisters, while the remainder of the student body had their own tea party. Tea is a symbol of hospitality and kindness that Catherine McAuley originated, and it is still practiced at many events that the Mercy sisters sponsor.
