St. Patrick’s Mercy Home Celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year is a year of joy and celebration for Sisters of Mercy, staff, residents, and volunteers of St. Patrick’s Mercy Home, a long-term care facility located in St. John’s, NL, as it marks the 50th anniversary of its opening. The Anniversary Year was officially opened on the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, September 24, 2007 and the opening Liturgy recognized in a special way the many Sisters of Mercy who have ministered at St. Patrick’s over the past fifty years.

January 6, 2008, the actual anniversary date, was marked by the celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy with His Grace, Archbishop Martin Currie, as the chief celebrant. In her greeting and welcome to the Assembly, Sister Helen Harding, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, noted that when the Sisters of Mercy were invited in 1958 to assume the administration of the Home, they were called to a new expression of ministry at the time; she expressed gratitude to the staff and volunteers of St. Patrick’s for all of their dedication, commitment and generosity in caring for the residents. In his remarks, Archbishop Currie expressed gratitude to the sisters who “for the last fifty years have shared their hearts and hands, their compassion and touch to bring comfort and community to those in need.” Following the Liturgy, a reception was held in the parish hall where residents, staff, volunteers, residents’ families, and benefactors within the community gathered to continue the celebration.

Other events of the anniversary year include a Luncheon Lecture in April which will have as its theme “Mercy in a New Age: Caring for the Elderly in the Twenty-First Century”; a staff dinner; a reception for former staff of St. Patrick’s; a commemorative anniversary booklet; story circles; and a 50th Anniversary Appeal.

Our hope during this year is found in an excerpt of the prayer that was composed for the 50th anniversary – “May St. Patrick, our patron, continue to be our inspiration so that we may live as a community of faith and service.”