Maryland Mercy Associates, St.Albans
On the 29th March we were privileged to have Sister Maura with us once again for our meeting. Nine of our Associates attended and also welcomed a new member, Christina.
We started our session with refreshments – plenty of ‘good cups of tea’ and some hot cross buns. Sister Maura then produced a stunning birthday cake for our secretary (me) as I celebrated my 70th birthday the previous week!
We renewed our commitments as Mercy Associates and Sister Maura renewed her vows as a Sister. We also heard Catherine’s thoughts on Lent from a letter she wrote and were inspired by the words of the Lenten Psalm of Awakening by Edward Hays.
My recent birthday prompted us to think about getting older and how things are changing for both the Sisters and us Mercy Associates. Sister Maura updated us about what is happening to the Sisters of Mercy in England. She paid tribute to Sister Mary Sullivan (USA died 2023), Sister Angela Bolster (Ireland died 2005) and Sister M Liguori (UK died 2008) and many others to whom we owe so much. They were steeped in Venerable Catherine’s story and shared it with a passion. We prayed for them.
Although getting on in years brings its challenges – one of our group now uses a mobility scooter and another told us she now has ‘wheels’( a mobility walker) – we recognised that slowing down in life does allow us to have more time for people. We can be ‘available’ more often and hopefully more sensitive to others – the two features of Catherine’s legacy as cited on the Mercy calendar for that day.
Some of us will be attending the celebrations for Sister Margaret Jones’s Diamond Jubilee in April and we are looking forward to a commemorative tree being planted at SS Alban and Stephen Primary School in June. This will be another memorial to the great work the Sisters have carried out in St. Albans particularly in the field of education. We would also like to visit the Sisters in Clacton this year – possibly in June or July and catch up with the Sisters we know from their time at Maryland.
Cath White
Secretary Maryland Mercy Associates, St.Albans.
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