Category: Ministry

“In this respectful tribute to St. Clare’s, The Mustard Seed, Sr. Kathrine Bellamy chronicles the hospital’s development from its opening in 1922 with 20 beds, its growth to an institution of 375 beds and its national recognition in 1992 by Chatelainemagazine as one of Canada’s 12 “great” hospitals.

Since 1842, the Sisters of Mercy had been ministering to the sick, poor and needy of St. John’s, thus when this established tradition of care was redirected toward hospital patients it was not difficult for St. Clare’s to live up to the motto “Mercy Above All.” Accordingly, St. Clare’s became home to Newfoundland’s first alcohol and detoxification centre and its first palliative care unit, and absorbed the chronic care of tuberculosis patients following closure of the city’s sanatorium; from 1922 until the obstetrics unit closed 70 years later, 83 000 babies were delivered…”

From the book review by J.T.H. Connor PhD, John Clinch professor of medical humanities and history of medicine, Faculty of Medicine Memorial University St. John’s, NL

Read the rest of the review here

The Family Life Bureau, established in the Archdiocese of St. John’s in 1976, offers counseling in a whole range of areas including individual, marriage, and family counseling. Clients of the staff of the Bureau are either self-referred, referred from the courts, from physicians, various community agencies, and from priests throughout the Archdiocese.

Discovering and using your strengths to deal with personal and family life issues . . . Support to see you through . . .

Pastoral counseling is healing the mind, spirit, and relationships through the wisdom of behavioural sciences and spiritual values.

The goal of the Family Life Bureau is to foster positive changes in the lives of persons. Every person has within him/her the energy for growth. Troubled people seek out help when external circumstances lead to distressing separation from others, internal conflicts that cause pain and inner division, and when the life force within them is blocked from healing and growth.

Sister Loretta Walsh, rsm, Executive Director of the Family Life Bureau, is a facilitator and counselor. She and two other certified counselors provide individual, couple, group and family counseling. They also organize and facilitate workshops and marriage preparation seminars. The workshops deal with issues related to family life, parenting, interpersonal relationships, separation and divorce, personal growth, youth, dealing with drugs, assertiveness and self-esteem.

One interesting program brings married couples together for a candlelight dessert and facilitated conversation about their relationship. This marriage enrichment component is facilitated collaboration with the West End Baptist Church and some Anglican parishes in St. John’s.

 

McAuley Convent was opened in 1991 to provide a residence and center of care of the sick and infirm members of our congregation.

This modern and tastefully decorated building is built into the hillside of the Littledale property in the Waterford River valley in the west end of St. John’s. Every floor of the three-storey building has a ground level entrance. The center courtyard, which can be viewed from every room on the back of the building and which can be entered from the community room, is lavishly landscaped with flowers, shrubs and trees. Sisters can safely walk around the garden or sit in the swing chairs or other chairs that are provided. A statue of Mary stands at the centre of the garden and the Stations of the Cross are located on one side of the garden.

There are three other smaller community rooms for different groups of sisters, including one for the sisters who are part of the staff at McAuley Convent. In addition to this there are two large dining rooms, individual bedrooms, a physio-therapy room and a few multi-use rooms for arts and crafts, games, meetings or solitude. A very large kitchen, storage and laundry take up the lowest floor of the building. The crown of the building is the beautiful chapel with a wall of windows that look out to the Southside Hills of the Waterford Valley. The Sisters are blessed to have mass celebrated every morning and those who cannot go to the chapel may hear the celebration in their bedrooms.

Besides being the residence for sisters who need care in their old age, McAuley is a place of recuperation for sisters who have surgery or injury that requires more care than is available in their own convent. Our sisters are given the best of care and receive wonderful attentiveness from the many lay staff and sisters. Some have lived to see 100 years or more. When a sister is dying the sisters who are able, keep day and night vigil. Sisters are prayed into God’s kingdom at the end of their lives.

McAuley Convent is a place of care, safety and nurturing; it is a place of faith, joy, freedom and celebration. It is a powerhouse of prayer for the many needs of individuals and for our world.

McAuley Convent closed in October, 2020 when the sisters needing care moved to the Residence at Littledale, a new facility owed and operated by a local businessman Fred Cahill, on the Littledale Property where we are renting the entire third floor.

Ceremony to announce the transformation of Mercy Convent

On May 31, 2023 a simple, yet profound event took place in the bare-bone space of the former Mercy Convent in St. John’s, NL.  The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, a Roman Catholic order of women religious, was founded in Dublin in 1831 by Catherine McAuley.  Three sisters of Mercy travelled from Dublin in 1842 to found a convent in St. John’s.  For about 15 years the sisters lived in a wooden structure built as a convent by Bishop Fleming who invited sisters to come to Newfoundland.

The Mercy Convent structure today was constructed in 1857 and served as a convent up to 2021.  Over the past months the building has been stripped to its foundational structure.  Olympic Construction has begun the renovation to the building to transform it into a shelter and supportive housing structure that will accommodate 90 persons in need of temporary and transitional housing. It is hope that the project will be completed by June 2024.   Day to day support services will be offered by The Gathering Place.

The Sisters of Mercy and the Presentation Sisters, as well as church parishes in the area, Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Church of Canada, and Presbyterian as well as other groups concerned about hunger, health, housing and social isolation of a large population in the central area of St. John’s joined forces in the early 1990s to envision a centre to serve the population in need of care and services.  The Gathering Place opened in 1994 with basic food provision and social centre located in a vacant school building that had been refreshed for this new purpose.  Since that time space and services and those seeking help increased exponentially and continue to do so.  Now permanent supportive housing in this renovation project has been added to the services of The Gathering Place.

Media Coverage of the event

Watch: NTV Broadcast: https://ntv.ca/former-mercy-convent-soon-to-be-converted-into-shelter-for-the-gathering-place/ (3:03)
Read: CBC text: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/gathering-place-two-million-dollars-new-housing-1.6860584
VOCM coverage: https://vocm.com/2023/05/31/gathering-place-converting-former-mercy-convent-to-expand-operations/

See below Mercy Convent Before and After Renovation as Shelter and transitional Housing (17:29)

Ceremonia para anunciar la transformación del Convento de la Misericordia

El 31 de mayo de 2023 tuvo lugar un acontecimiento sencillo, pero profundo, en el espacio desnudo del antiguo Convento de la Misericordia de St. El Instituto de las Hermanas de la Misericordia, una orden católica romana de religiosas, fue fundado en Dublín en 1831 por Catalina McAuley. Tres hermanas de la Misericordia viajaron desde Dublín en 1842 para fundar un convento en San Juan. Durante unos 15 años, las hermanas vivieron en una estructura de madera construida como convento por el obispo Fleming, que invitó a las hermanas a venir a Terranova.

La estructura actual del Convento de la Misericordia se construyó en 1857 y sirvió como convento hasta 2021. En los últimos meses, el edificio ha sido despojado de su estructura fundacional. Olympic Construction ha comenzado la renovación del edificio para transformarlo en una estructura de refugio y vivienda de apoyo que acogerá a 90 personas necesitadas de alojamiento temporal y transitorio. Se espera que el proyecto esté terminado en junio de 2024. Los servicios de apoyo diario serán ofrecidos por The Gathering Place.

Las Hermanas de la Misericordia y las Hermanas de la Presentación, así como las parroquias de la zona, católica romana, anglicana, de la Iglesia Unida de Canadá y presbiteriana, además de otros grupos preocupados por el hambre, la salud, la vivienda y el aislamiento social de una amplia población de la zona central de St. John’s, unieron sus fuerzas a principios de los años noventa para idear un centro que atendiera a la población necesitada de cuidados y servicios. El Gathering Place abrió sus puertas en 1994 con un servicio de alimentación básica y un centro social ubicado en un edificio escolar vacío que había sido acondicionado para este nuevo fin. Desde entonces, el espacio y los servicios y las personas que buscan ayuda han aumentado exponencialmente y siguen haciéndolo. Ahora, a los servicios de The Gathering Place se han añadido viviendas permanentes de apoyo en este proyecto de renovación.

Cobertura mediática del eventoen inglés

Ver: NTV Broadcast: https://ntv.ca/former-mercy-convent-soon-to-be-converted-into-shelter-for-the-gathering-place/ (3:03)
Leer: CBC text: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/gathering-place-two-million-dollars-new-housing-1.6860584
VOCM coverage: https://vocm.com/2023/05/31/gathering-place-converting-former-mercy-convent-to-expand-operations/