On Monday evening we attended a most impressive celebration on Bell Island at the invitation of St. Michael’s Parish. Exactly one hundred years ago, on 19 September 1917, four Sisters (Sisters Mary Consilio, Mary Cecily O’Reilly, Alphonsus McNamara and Mary Aloysius Rawlins) crossed the Tickle and founded our community at the Front.
The people of St. Michael’s Parish invited any Sisters who could attend to join them for Mass, dinner and music. Twenty-one of us joined them for the special evening.
The crossing on the new ferry, the Legionnaire, was beautiful – calm and sunny. The Archbishop and eight priests joined us for the trip. We were met at the ferry by several Knights of Columbus who offered us drives if needed. We went directly to Church and joined the parishioners and many others who had come back home for the occasion.
The bell, used at the original St. Michael’s Church and preserved by St. Michael’s High School, was relocated to the grounds of the modern St. Michael’s Parish Church (build on the site of the Immaculate Conception Church after it had burned to the ground). Archbishop Currie blessed the bell, rang it and then invited a small choir from St. Michael’s School to lead us in O Canada and the Ode to Newfoundland. The bell has so much significance in joyfully in linking our built heritage with the geography of this Island.
We then went into the Church for Mass at which the Archbishop presided. The sanctuary was lovely, adorned by a single vase of red roses and new white altar cloths with gold embroidery. The School choir joined the adult choir to lead us in song. Members of the parish led the Liturgy of the Word. The Archbishop, in his homily, recalled some of our history on Bell Island right up to the present day with a special mention of Sister Phyllis’ pastoral presence. He reminded us that the Ode to Newfoundland was sung for the very first time at the opening of the first Catholic school on the Island in 1901!
of the past 100 years
Read more about the wonderful celebrations on Bell Island. Download the report here
Two images, one from the logo and one from the motto, now invite us into the living out of our Chapter Statement. In the logo, the simple panes of the side panels (not the ornate decoration of the earlier drafts) remind us of a time in Catherine’s life when she was uncertain, seemingly out of her depth and without the security of her faith tradition. We are told that, denied the right to have access to any Catholic symbols or rituals, in her ingenuity she found the Cross in the window panes and door panels and the intersecting branches of trees on the lawn. I see six such crosses in the side panels of our logo – how many do you see? In a postmodern world, in what familiar yet unexpected places will we find the Creating One, the Risen One and the Spirit of peace and justice?
At their May 2017 meeting in Dublin, the Members and the Board of MIA endorsed the further exploration and development of Mercy Global Presence in all its rich and profound promise.
The 9 Days of Prayer will commence on Saturday, 10 June and conclude on Sunday 18 June, the actual anniversary of the document’s release. It is one outcome of the Mercy International Reflection Process where we listened attentively to ‘the cry of Earth and the cry of the Poor’.