A very significant event for the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland took place in October 2020 with the transfer of many of our sisters to their new home at the Residence at Littledale.
On October 7, 2020, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, fourteen sisters from various convents moved to their new home on the third floor of the Residence at Littledale and on October 15, 2020 twenty-three sisters from McAuley Convent took up residence there.
Each group as they arrived gathered in their new chapel to praise and thank God for the many blessings in their former convents while singing “The Suscipe” and the refrain “We Remember your Mercy, we rejoice in your love, renew us in spirit, O Lord”.
On October 17, 2020, Sister Elizabeth Davis, Congregational Leader, gathered with all the sisters in the chapel and welcomed them to their new home. Several symbols previously used at McAuley Convent were brought into the chapel and placed in appropriate spaces. In her words during the ritual she noted that “the touchstone of our new home is this chapel, so lovingly built and so lovingly prepared to receive us. May this chapel dare us to be our best selves”. She then blessed the altar and ambo and the Blessed Sacrament was brought in to the tabernacle followed by a short period of adoration. The ritual closed with the singing of the beautiful song “The Circle of Mercy”.
We are blessed in the new residence to be able to occupy the whole third floor, which we endearingly refer to as The Mount. We have our own chapel, community room and dining room for our sick and elderly, even though the building is under private ownership. Naturally we pay for our space and meals but are not responsible as in former days for staffing, maintenance, payroll, laundry or housekeeping.
The journey to the new residence began in 2012 through Congregational Assemblies and Chapters and has now reached completion with the move to the new Residence at Littledale.
