Where Sisters of Mercy Minister: France (28)

Last weekend on the Feast of the Assumption (Sunday, August 15), approximately 30,000 pilgrims were evacuated from Lourdes, France, after the French police received a phone call saying that four bombs were set to detonate in Lourdes at 3:00 p.m. that afternoon.

The shrines were evacuated peacefully, and after police determined that the area was free of explosives pilgrims returned for a torch-lit procession in the evening.

Sisters of Mercy have been ministering in France since 1998. At present Declan Mooney rsm, a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy (Ireland), Northern Province, lives and ministers at Lourdes. She is in pastoral care and prayer ministry as she leads prayer groups and offers support to pilgrims at Our Lady’s Shrine. Other Sisters of Mercy have been involved in this ministry on a short-term basis for many years.